Bad Romance
by redsandman99
Summary: Sometimes love can go horribly, horribly wrong...
1. Chapter 1

Trish sighed as she walked around yet another puddle. "I hate the rain," she said miserably. "Look what it's done! It's made everything all muddy and icky and now my jeans are going to get dirty."

Her girlfriend Mickie rolled her eyes. "Well why did you wear one new ones? If you had worn one of your pairs of old jeans then this wouldn't be a problem."

"Well I didn't know how bad it had stormed last night," Trish said defensively. She jumped over a particularly giant puddle and squeaked when she almost didn't make it.

Mickie stared at her incredulously. "How did you not know? The thunder was louder than hell."

"I was tired." Trish stopped and grabbed Mickie's hand so she could pull the brunette closer to her. "You wore me out last night."

Mickie smirked. "You were the one who told me to pretend I was your psycho stalker. You asked for everything I did to you."

"I did," Trish agreed. She let go of Mickie's hand so she could wrap her arms around her neck. "And I'm gonna ask for it again as soon as we get home."

"Well we could always turn around and go home right now," Mickie pointed out.

Trish shook her head. "Sorry babe." She gave Mickie a kiss before she started walking again. "We have to go see Adam and Jeff."

Mickie sighed and followed her. She had an unhappy look on her face. "You know they're not going to be ready to go with us. And us going there and trying to get their asses moving is just going to cause a fight."

Trish refused to respond to that, even though she knew that Mickie was probably right. Adam and Jeff had promised to come down to Piper's Pit so Trish and Mickie could help them find a new apartment to live in. They had been evicted from their last one for not paying their rent for six months and Adam had really made the situation worse by trashing the place and then punching the landlord in the face before he and Jeff left. Now the two of them were staying at a hotel, even though they weren't going to have the money to pay for the bill once they checked out. Pretty much every penny they had went to booze and drugs.

"Honey?" Mickie said hesitantly. "I know you really want to help them, but please, promise me you won't give them anymore money."

Trish glared at her. "Jeff promised that they weren't going to ask us anymore."

Mickie shook her head. "Jeff always makes promises like that; he says he won't ask for money and he swears he'll get off the smack and he has said over and over again that if Adam doesn't straighten up, he'll leave him. And you want to know what? He has no intentions of making good on any of those promises."

"He got off the smack once," Trish reminded her.

"For two weeks. Then Adam had to go act like an asshole and Jeff went back on it to make himself feel better." Mickie grabbed Trish's hand as they crossed the street. "They're not good for each other anymore. I don't want to say it, but I think things are only going to get uglier between them.

Trish bit her lip. She knew that Mickie was right: Adam and Jeff's relationship had turned into a very volitile situation. The drinking and the drugs were a major problem, but there were other major issues that made them use all that stuff as a coping mechanism. Adam tended to get very jealous and possessive over Jeff, and he was the type of guy to pick fights just to be an asshole. And Jeff wasn't completely innocent either. If Adam did something that Jeff didn't like, then Jeff would purposefully flirt with other guys right in Adam's face, which made everything worse. Things had gotten to the point that the police had been called five times because of their yelling matches that could go on for hours if they weren't stopped. The whole thing was just a mess.

Mickie and Trish arrived at the hotel a little less than ten minutes later. They immediately went into the elevator and pushed the button to go up on to the third floor. "Do you really think they're beyond helping?" Trish asked quietly.

Mickie sighed. "Yeah," she admitted. "They don't _want_ help Trish. As bad as things are between them, they don't want to actually try to change things. They're too scared to even think about trying to live without each other."

Trish ran her hand through her hair. Once again, Mickie had a point that she couldn't disprove. This was getting very frustrating.

The elevator doors opened and they began walking down the hall. They were about halfway there when the maid ran out of there, screaming at the top of her lungs. Trish and Mickie exchanged looks before sprinting into the room as fast as they could. They found that the room was completely and totally trashed. Both the beds were overturned, the television had been smashed, the table and the desk by the beds were in pieces and there were several holes in the walls. "Oh my God," Trish said in disbelief. _No wonder the maid scream...I would scream too if I had to clean this up too._

"Adam? Je--" Mickie's voice suddenly died and then she screamed too. Trish whirled around and looked into the bathroom. The state of the rest of the room was nothing compared to what she was seeing now. The walls and the floor of the bathroom were covered in blood, and sitting right there in the middle of the mess were Adam and Jeff. Adam was holding Jeff in his lap, rocking from side to side, his tear stained face staring blankly into space. Jeff's eyes were closed and he had blood all over him.

"Oh my God!" Trish exclaimed. She ran into the bathroom and just about slid and fell on her ass as she knelt down beside Adam. "Jeff! Adam! What happened?"

Neither of them answered her. Adam just kept rocking from side to side, and Jeff's eyes remained closed. She immediately began trying to check Jeff over first and found that his skin was ice cold. "Oh no," she moaned, lifting up her friend's shirt to see at least a dozen stab wounds covering his stomach and chest. "No. No no no no no...." She checked for a pulse, even though she knew it wasn't any use. He was long gone now.

"Adam what happened?" Mickie asked, finally entering the room. She looked like she was about to be sick. "Adam! ADAM!"

Adam didn't speak. He didn't even act like he had heard her. He just kept holding Jeff while rocking from side to side, appearing to have gone in a state of complete and total shock.

Ten minutes later, the police arrived. The maid who had ran out of the room had called 911. Two cops literally had to drag Mickie and Trish out of the room so they could be questioned out in the hallway. Mickie did most of the talking because Trish couldn't even speak. She tried but she couldn't say a word. It felt like someone had just ripped out her heart and stomped on it. Jeff had been her best friend and she had been close to Adam too. The whole scene was too much for her to take. _How did this...Did Adam...no, he couldn't have. He wouldn't..._

Every person in the hotel came up there to try to see what was going on. The police tried to get them back, but they didn't go away completely. Trish wanted to scream at them to get lost. This wasn't any of their business. Her friends weren't anything to gawk at. But she still couldn't speak, so she just watched the cops go in and out of that room for what felt like an eternity. When Jeff's body was wheeled out of the room, she did have to look away. Even though it was in a body bag, she couldn't stand to look at it.

"Oh fuck," Mickie muttered. "Oh God, let this be a mistake..."

Trish looked back at the room just in time to see Adam come out next. His hands were handcuffed behind his back and two police officers were leading him away as they read him his rights.

He was being arrested for Jeff's murder.

**......**

**Wow...I feel evil. I really, really do. **

**From the next chapter on, I'm going back to see what led up to this, so there will be a lot of Jeff in this story. **


	2. Chapter 2

_2 years ago_

"Adam. Adam. Adam. ADAM!"

Adam just about jumped right out of bed as Jay screamed right in his ear. He glared up at his best friend, his heart pounding at about a million miles a minute. "What the hell was that for?" he asked angrily. "Were you trying to give me a heart attack?"

Jay rolled his eyes. "I've been trying to wake your ass up for the past twenty minutes."

"Why?" Adam asked. He glanced at the clock and sighed unhappily. "It's only eleven in the morning. I told you not to get me up before three."

"Yeah well, there's more important things to do than sleeping," Jay replied.

"Like what?"

"Like getting off your ass and getting the money to pay your share of the rent."

Adam blinked in surprise. "The rent isn't due until next weekend."

Jay shook his head. "No, it's due _this_ weekend. And Chris and I don't have the money to pay your share this time."

"Fuck," Adam muttered. This was not good. He didn't have 250 bucks to his name. "That sucks." He rolled out of bed and immediately wished that he hadn't. His head was absolutely throbbing and his mouth tasted like stale booze. Once again, he had a hangover.

"Maybe you should go out and get a job," Jay suggested bluntly.

Adam glared at him. "You say that like I haven't been looking for one for the past four months." He walked over to his dresser and grabbed the bottle of aspirin that was sitting on it. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a job right now?" he asked as he opened the bottle and popped two pills into his mouth.

"Well you might have found one by now if you hadn't gotten yourself fired for punching your boss in the face," Jay pointed out.

Adam smirked. He remembered that day fondly. Four months ago he had been working at a convienance store. The owner of that store was a guy named Eric Bischoff, and he was a complete asshole. Adam hadn't liked him at all, and he had just been looking for an excuse to pop that little weasel. His chance had come one day when John (his boyfriend at the time) had come in. When Eric believed that he wasn't paying attention, he had hit on dear JoMo. That had been a big mistake. Everyone always told Adam that he was the jealous type, and he proved that to be true once again that day. He had beat the snot out of Bischoff and was lucky that charges hadn't been filed against him. He had roughed up Bischoff pretty good.

"Assclowns! Which one of you stole my leather pants?" Chris yelled from the other room.

Adam looked at Jay and realized the slightly younger man was wearing the leather pants in question. "Your boyfriend is gonna get pissed," he pointed out. "You know how protective he is of those pants."

Jay glared at him. "You just keep your mouth shut over there," he ordered. "If you just keep your big fat mouth shut, he might not even--"

At that moment, the door opened and in walked Chris. He looked right at Jay and immediately went nuts. "Theif! Thos are my pants! Give them back!"

Jay looked at Chris in disbelief. "You can't be serious," he said. "We've been dating for three years and I'm seriously not allowed to wear your clothes?"

Chris pouted. "Those are my favorite pants though. What if something happens to them when you're wearing them? I won't get a chance to say goodbye to them."

Adam rolled his eyes. "You're a dork Irvine."

"Fuck off Copeland," Chris replied.

Jay smirked. "You know what Chris? If these pants are so important to you, I'll take them off...if you make it worth the trouble that is." He cockedh is eyebrow and gave Chris what was supposed to be a sexy look. Adam just thought it made him look like a retarded duck, but apparently that got Chris's motor running He was grabbing Jay by the hand and dragging him out of the room before Adam could blink.

"Weirdos," Adam muttered under his breath. He changed his clothes and then went to the bathroom so he could brush his teeth. The sounds that were coming from Jay and Chris's room were already obnoxiously loud even though they had just gotten started, so Adam decided to do the smart thing and leave. For a minute he thought about going to look for the job he was in desperate need of, but at the last minute he decided to head down to Piper's Pit instead.

Piper's Pit was a bar that served as the main hangout for Adam and all of his friends. Roddy Piper (the owner of the place) liked all of them enough to give them some pretty good discounts on all the food and booze they wanted. Adam was particularly interested in the booze right at the moment. If he was going to have to try to find a job, he was going to need some extra help.

As he was getting into his car, he looked across the street at the park that was there and saw John hanging all over his new boyfriend Drew. It immediately became hard for him to resist the urge to go over there and kick that Scottish bastard's ass. Even though he and John had been broken up for a couple of months, it was still hard for him to accept the fact that John wasn't with him anymore. _He'll come back_, he told himself as he got in his car. _That fucker McIntyre won't be able to keep him satisfied for long and then he'll be right back by my side, where he belongs._

He put the key into the ignition and tried to start the car up. It made a loud groaning noise and tried to refuse to work. "Oh hell no," he muttered. "No no no. You are NOT doing this you piece of shit." He turned the key again, growling when all the car did was sputter and act like it wasn't going to start. He stopped for a minute and took a deep breath. "One more time," he muttered. "Just one more fucking time." He turned the key yet again, and this time the vehicle roared to life. "That's better," he muttered. "That's a good girl." _Yeah, I definitely need a new fucking job like right now. I need to put away some money to get a new car. My luck with this one is about to run out._

Luckily though, his luck with that one didn't run out on his way to the bar. He parked as close to the building as he could get and then went inside. There were a few people at various tables who were eating lunch, and James, Randy, Daffney and Amy were all sitting at the bar, having a beer. "Oh yay, I don't have to drink alone," Adam said happily as he sat down next to James. "I was worried that I was going to look like a loser."

James smirked. "Shouldn't you have been more worried about looking like an alcoholic?"

"Psh! Yeah right. Like I worry about that." Adam looked around. "Where's Hot Rod?"

"In the back getting us some hot wings," Randy answered. He was taking the peanuts out of the bowl they had been in and was lining them up all in a row. This usually meant that he was getting ready to flick them at random people. "Where are Chris and Jay?"

"At home fucking," Adam replied. He climbed up over the counter and grabbed himself a beer before climbing back on to his stool. "But before they got started on that, Jay informed me that I need to come up with my share of the rent."

"You say that like it's a problem," Randy observed.

"It is," Adam confirmed. "I don't have the money, and even if I get a job today, I've only got two days until Friday. There's no place that's gonna pay me over two hundred bucks just for a day or two of work." He opened his beer and was about to take a drink out of it when a brilliant idea hit him. It was so fantastic that he didn't know why he hadn't thought of it sooner. "Hey James?" he said innocently. "How's business for you?"

James raised his eyebrows. "Good...are you fishing for money Copeland?"

"Well...I'm fishing for a one day job that pays me the 250 I need for rent." Adam wasn't really interested in a full time position with Likansuk Porn. The people who worked for James were more than a little strange, and they were just too creepy for him to stand being around for more than a day.

James chuckled. "Come by the building tomorrow and I'll have Julie give you something to do."

"Sweet." Adam took a drink of his beer and peeked down at the girls. "So what's with you two? Are things not well in Lesbo Land?"

Daffney started playing with Amy's hair. "My poor baby has a problem," she said sadly. "Masters quit the band so now she's missing a guitarist." Amy was in a band called the Luchagores and they regularly played here at Piper's place alongside Chris's band Fozzy. This Saturday though, both bands had been scheduled to take part of the Battle of the Bands that was going to take place in McMahon Park. Bands from all over the state were supposed to be coming in and the winning band got a thousand dollars, and the chance to possibly sign a deal with a record label. It was a pretty big deal, to say the least.

James shook his head. "That's all that's wrong?"

Amy glared at him. "That's all? That's all? How can you say that to me right now?" She looked ready to get up and kick his ass.

"I didn't mean that like it sounded," he told her. "Look, Cooper used to play guitar in high school and I know he still fucks around with the damn thing from time to time. Why don't you just go to the house and ask him to be your guitarist? The boy's smarter than hell; if you give him a crash course in your songs I'm sure he'll pick it up by Saturday."

Amy brightened right up. "Really?"

"Would I have said it if I didn't mean it?"

She squealed happily. "Thanks James!" She got up and gave him a great big kiss on the cheek before running out the door. Daffney laughed and quickly chased after her. Just seconds later, Roddy came out with a whole big thing of hot wings. "Adam!" he said as he set the wings down. "Don't tell me you scared away the girls again!"

"It wasn't me this time," Adam said. "Amy's desperate need for a guitarist sent her running out the door."

"And where she goes, the Scream Queen follows," Randy offered helpfully.

Roddy frowned. "Wait, I thought one of those two played the guitar."

"No, Amy sings, Daffney plays the drums and Rob is on the bass. Masters played the guitar but he quit, so now they're gonna go see if Cooper will join them," James explained.

"Oh." Roddy looked at Adam. "Chris is gonna be at that big thing on Saturday, right?"

Adam nodded. "It's all he's talked about for weeks...excluding this morning when he took the time to bitch about his leather pants."

"Well then!" Roddy said, grabbing a beer of his own and holding it up. "I would like to make a toast to the Luchawhores and Fuzzy. May the two best bands in this shit hole of a city win!"

Randy frowned. "Uh, Hot Rod? It's the Luchagores and Fozzy, not--"

"The bands are gonna be whatever I tell them to be," Roddy interrupted. "Got it?"

Randy and Adam nodded while James laughed. There was no arguing with Roddy. He was too stubborn to give in, even if he was wrong. _The Luchawhores and Fuzzy,_ Adam thought, shaking his head in amusement. _I bet Amy and Chris will just love those names._

....

"What in the hell happened to your table?" Phil asked.

Jeff sighed as he grabbed a bag of potato chips out of the pantry. "The bridal magazines are eating it," he replied. "It's a terrible, terrible thing." He began trying to sort through the mess, looking for his I-pod, which had innocently been left there that morning. The magazines had not been there that morning and he wished that they weren't there now. All the wedding stuff was driving him absolutely insane. "I really wish Matt and Eve would just elope," he said unhappily. "I swear, if I hear any more wedding talk, I'm going to fucking puke."

"Watch your mouth Jeffrey," Gil warned as he walked into the room.

Jeff sighed. "Sorry Dad," he said, not actually meaning it. He finally managed to find his I-pod and shove it in his pocket. "Thank God," he muttered. "I thought I had lost it forever."

Gil shook his head at Jeff before looking at Phil. "Jeffrey here told me that your cousin Daffney is in some kind of competition this weekend," he said gruffly. "And he says she invited the both of you to come stay with her and her family for the weekend so you can go too."

Phil nodded, even though some of that was a lie. Jeff had told his father that they would all be staying with Daffney's parents, when in reality, they were only staying with Daffney and her girlfriend Amy. Gil was old fashioned when it came to homosexual relationships, so Jeff decided not to risk not being able to go by telling the whole truth. "Yes sir," Phil said. "We really really want Jeff to come with us."

Gil studied Phil carefully before looking at Jeff. "If you're going to go, you need to get all your chores done by Friday," he said. "And your homework needs to be done too."

Jeff nodded. "I can manage that."

"And would you please call that Maria girl that keeps calling and asking for you? She seems really nice and all you're doing is ignoring her."

Jeff grunted unhappily. He had no intention of calling Maria back, but he wasn't going to tell his dad that. That would lead to a whole bunch of questions that he didn't want to answer. "Come on," he said to Phil. "Let's go watch TV up in my room."

Phil gladly followed Jeff upstairs. The two of them managed to get to Jeff's room without running into Matt or Eve. "Finally," Phil said, locking the door behind them before kissing Jeff. Jeff moaned happily as they stumbled back on to the bed. He had been secretly dating Phil for six months now. It was hard to keep a secret in a place like Cameron, but so far, the only other person who knew about their relationship was their friend Shannon.

"You sure you want to do this with everyone in the house?" Phil asked in between their heated kisses. "We could get caught."

Jeff grinned. "That's what's fun though." He unbuckled Phil's jeans and freed the raven haired teenager's cock from it's confines. The possibility of getting caught excited him and it fuled him to hungrily take Phil's dick into his mouth. Phil barely muffled his moan before it escaped his lips, which made Jeff giggle. To be honest, the whole Battle of the Bands thing was the least of their priorities. The real reason they wanted to go away for the weekend was so they could have sex without worrying about their parents walking in and catching them in the act.

"Fuck," Phil whispered, grabbing a fist full of Jeff's blonde hair. "Your fucking mouth is amazing babe."

If Jeff had been able to, he would have smirked right then and there. But since he couldn't, he just sucked Phil even harder. Phil was working hard on controling how loud the noises that were coming out of his mouth were, but Jeff made that really hard when he probed his tongue into the drippling slit. "Jeff get up here," Phil ordered. "Right now."

Jeff took his mouth away from Phil's cock and quickly discarded his jeans. "You want me baby?" he asked as he straddled Phil's lap and began positioning himself over the engorged cock.

Phil nodded. "Yeah. I want you real bad."

Jeff giggled. _I can tell that._ He sat down quickly, filling himself with every inch of Phil's member in one swift movement. Their kiss muffled their moans, although they probably had been a little louder than they should have been. At that point though, they were having a hard time caring. Phil grabbed Jeff's waist and helped him set a quick pace. Normally they liked to take a little bit more time, but if they didn't hurry, they could get interrupted before they actually finished.

"God damn Jeff," Phil muttered, reaching up Jeff's shirt and teasing the blonde's nipples with his fingers. "You feel so fucking good."

Jeff whimpered as he wrapped his arms around Phil's shoulders. He wanted to tell Phil to take him and fuck him through the fucking bed. He wanted Phil to make it hurt. But Phil wouldn't do that. Phil cared too much to make it hurt like he sometimes wanted it to. Jeff found that both sweet and irritating at the same time.

For a moment, they both could have sworn that they heard someone walking by the room. Phil cast a fearful look at the door but Jeff immediately grabbed his face with one hand and kissed him while stroking himself with another. "Phil...fuck...oh God." He closed his eyes and pressed his lips against Phil's as hard as he could as he came all over Phil's shirt. Phil groaned and came inside of Jeff almost at the same time.

"Hey Jeff!" Matt yelled. It sounded like he was down the hall. "Dad wants to know if Phil is staying for dinner!"

Jeff opened his eyes and looked at Phil. Phil just sighed. "I can't go down there with cum on my shirt," he said.

Jeff smirked. "I think I have one just like it in my closet," he assured him. He looked back towards the door. "Yeah, he's staying!" he yelled at Matt. He got off of Phil and grabbed his pants. "Come on Philly. Let's get you something clean to wear."


	3. Chapter 3

"Do you have any idea what you are getting yourself into?" Chris asked as he pulled up to the studio where Likansuk Porn was doing its filming for the day. Chris was dropping Adam off and then picking him up later because Adam hadn't felt like fighting with his car that day. "Seriously, I know you watch a lot of porn, but--"

"Dude, you act like I'm coming here to be in one of these movies," Adam said with a roll of his eyes. "And that's not what I'm doing at all. I'm just coming here to help out with some stuff and that's it."

Chris shook his head. "James never told you what you were supposed to do. And considering the fact that you're supposed to do whatever his assistant tells you to do, you may very well end up being someone's bitch for the day. And I'm not talking figuratively here."

Adam glared at him. "First of all, I will not be someone's bitch. And second of all, why are you so against this? Do you want me to get the money to pay for my part of the rent or not?"

"Of course I do," Chris replied. "But I was told to bitch at you because Jay has a bad feeling about this whole thing."

"Do you always do what Jay tells you to?" Adam asked, even though he already knew what the answer was.

"When my nooky is on the line? Hell yes!" Chris said.

Adam sighed. Jay was a month younger than he was yet he tended to try and act like his mother from time to time. It was very annoying. "Look, tell Jay to relax. This whole thing isn't even close to being a big deal. Knowing James, he probably told the Julie chick to not give me much to do. Hell he _runs_ the company and he doesn't lift a fucking finger towards it." He opened the car door and got out. "See ya later." He slammed the door shut and went into the studio.

The inside of the place was completely chaotic. He had literally only been there for a few seconds when he almost got ran over by some crazy guy pushing a cart. "Jesus fucking Christ," he muttered under his breath. He looked around and saw that nobody really noticed what had just happened to him. _Well that's something at least._

"Are you Adam Copeland?"

Adam turned around a saw a short, big breasted, bleach blonde woman staring at him. "Yeah," he said, wondering if he was about to get hit on by a porn star. As flattering as that would be, he was strictly into guys and wouldn't really consider doing anything with this woman unless his life totally depended on it.

"I'm Julie," the woman said in a very professional sounding voice. "James told me that you were coming. Would you mind following me to my office? I have something very important to discuss with you."

"Uh…okay." Adam didn't know what else to say to that. For a moment, he almost had the perverted thought that this was some kind of act that she was using to get into his pants, but there was something about her demeanor that was killing that thought for him. _It's the voice,_ he told himself as he followed her into her obviously makeshift office. _She's got one of those voices that makes it sound like she's going to rip my balls off if I even look at her the wrong way._

"Listen, I've got a problem," she said as he shut the door behind them. "Today we were set to shoot a threesome for one of the movies we're filming today, but one of the actors involved is too sick to go on camera. He's got food poisoning or some shit like that."

"Well that sucks," Adam said. "But what does this have to do with me?"

"James told me to use you however I saw fit," she said. "And since I'm short an actor, I see fit to put you into that threesome."

Adam blinked. _Chris and Jay were right: I really DIDN'T know what I was getting myself into._ "Okay um…first of all, I can't act to save my life."

Julie waved her hand dismissively. "The scene we're shooting today is pure sex. There's not even a plot or reason for this threesome. Besides, have you watched porn that involves acting? Most of it sucks more cock than Kelly Kelly." She glanced at her watch. "Who is late…_again_…"

"But but…I don't know how I feel about having sex on camera," Adam said pathetically.

"I'll pay you an extra five hundred dollars on top of whatever James was going to pay you," she offered.

That was all he needed to hear to make him change his tune. "Sold!" he said, taking her hand and shaking it. "Who am I doing my scene with?"

"AJ and Shawn."

Adam raised his eyebrows. He didn't need her to clarify any further than that. He had seen enough of James's movies to know who AJ Swallows and "The Humpback Kid" Shawn Michaels were. "Okay. So uh, do I wear a rubber or--"

"Shawn doesn't like rubbers," Julie said immediately. "He throws a hissy fit whenever we try to get one involved in a scene he's in. But don't worry, he's clean. We get him tested before and after each movie and he's been clean every single time. So has AJ." She looked down at her crotch. "Now the question is, are you clean?"

"Yeah," he replied. "I'm clean."

"Good. Follow me again please." She led him out of the room and took him to where a brunette woman was standing. "Adam this is Mickie. Mickie, this is Adam. He's going to be in the scene with Shawn and AJ so please make him appealing for them."

Adam frowned. The way she said that made it sound like he wasn't appealing enough to begin with. He sure as hell didn't like that.

"Okay," Mickie said with a nod. She waited until Julie nodded away before smiling. "Don't mind her. She's just a little high strung." She pulled out a chair. "Sit down. I'll make you look all handsome for the camera."

Adam sighed and sat down. "This is really weird," he said. "I didn't really come here to be on camera."

Mickie shook her head. "Yeah well it's too late to back out now. Julie's under so much stress that she might kill you if you try to bail on her."

He didn't doubt that at all. "So what's her deal anyway? I mean, is she in charge when James isn't here?"

"Basically," Mickie confirmed. She started getting some make-up on him. "She oversees pretty much everything and makes sure everything goes smoothly. I think there was someone else who did the running of things while she just assisted but he was gone before I came to work here. I think he and James had some sort of issue they couldn't get past."

Adam rolled his eyes. That was a very common occurrence when it came to James. He had a way of pissing people in the worst ways. "That sounds like him." He closed his eyes as he put some sort of powder on his face. "So what's your story? Has Julie ever tried to put you on camera?"

"Many times," Mickie confirmed. "But I've refused to do it. My girlfriend doesn't even like the fact that I do make-up in this line of work. I would hate to see what she would do if I actually got into a movie." She stopped putting the stuff on his face. "Okay, you can open your eyes now."

He did that and watched her work on his hair from the mirror that was in the room. "Who's your girlfriend?"

"Trish Stratus," she replied. "She's studying to become a doctor right now." She looked up as the door opened. "AJ! Shawn!" she said happily.

AJ smiled. "Hey Mickie." He looked at Adam. "Are you the new guy?"

"Apparently," Adam said. "But I go by Adam for short." He looked at Shawn, who had his hand over his mouth. "Are you okay dude?"

Shawn just nodded. His face was starting to turn red though, so that came in direct conflict with the nod he provided.

AJ rolled his eyes. "Kelly came to work completely fucked up again," he said. "Julie is blowing a gasket right now and Shawn thinks it's fucking hilarious."

"I can't help it!" Shawn said defensively, finally taking his hand off of his mouth. "That slut is so fucking dumb!" He pulled up a chair and sat down next to Adam. "Now Julie says you've never done this before. Is that right?"

"Well I've never done porn," Adam said. "But I've had plenty of sex."

Shawn laughed. "Believe me, everyone here has too. But seriously, there's nothing to this. Just go with the flow and get into the moment so you can forget about those pesky cameras."

"But don't forget about them to the point you do something weird and nasty," AJ said. "Kinky and nasty is okay, but if it's too weird then we're going to draw the line."

Adam nodded. He really doubted that he was going to forget about the cameras completely. This wasn't like any of the home movies he had made with Mor. There were going to be other people watching him too as the camera did its filming.

Mickie finished up with Adam and then worked on AJ and Shawn. Once they were done with make-up, they stripped themselves of their clothes and put on a robe before going to the set. "Hunter!" Shawn said happily as he kissed the director on the cheek.

Hunter grinned. "Hey baby. You ready to get this over with?"

"Yeah," Shawn replied. "You promise to take me to Chuck E. Cheese when we're done here?"

"Yeah, I promise."

AJ leaned over towards Adam. "They've been dating off and on for years now. You should be on set when they get into a fight. It's very entertaining to watch."

"Okay people, quiet on the set!" Hunter yelled. "Actors, lose the robes. Everyone else, assume your positions. If any of you fuck up today, I'm kicking you in the balls. I really mean it."

_What a way to motivate the troops,_ Adam thought to himself as he took off the robe and stood where Shawn pointed for him to stand. The lights from the set made him feel really hot and it didn't help that he could feel nearly a dozen eyes watching him. For the first time in his life, he was having some stage fright.

As soon as Hunter said action though, that all melted away. Shawn grabbed him and roughly started kissing him. He immediately went with it, grateful for the distraction Shawn was giving him. AJ was kissing Shawn's neck, but he soon found himself in between Adam and Shawn. Adam started devouring his lips, letting Shawn tease AJ's body until he squirmed.

Adam and AJ were soon ripped apart by Shawn, who was taking charge of this situation. "Come here boys," Shawn said huskily, dropping down to his knees and taking both of their dicks into his hands. He stroked them both until they were nice and hard and then to Adam's amazement, he took both of their lengths into his mouth at once.

_Holy shit_, Adam thought as he moaned. He had never actually seen anyone do that before, and having it done to him felt amazing.

"Oh fuck," AJ moaned loudly. It looked like he was trying very hard not to thrust into Shawn's mouth.

_Oh yeah, I should play this up for the camera_. Adam quickly grabbed Shawn by the hair and pulled on it just a little bit. "You love this don't you?" he asked, licking his lips as he looked down at the lustful look in Shawn's eyes. "You filthy cockslut. Look at you. If you could, you would stuff a third dick in your mouth, wouldn't you?"

Shawn moaned and switched to just sucking Adam while stroking AJ. Adam smirked and thrusted into the warm mouth. Shawn didn't gag at all, which was just a little bit disappointing. Adam used to make John gag all the time and it was something that kind of turned him on.

Eventually Adam found himself by the bed that was in the middle of the set. Shawn pushed AJ down on the bed and they kissed, their tongues dancing obscenely for the camera's benefit. Adam smacked Shawn's ass before taking the slightly smaller man's cock and directed it to AJ's asshole. "Fuck me," Shawn ordered, glancing back so he could look at Adam. "Fuck me through this fucking bed."

Adam smirked. _Now that's something that I can do._ He grabbed Shawn by the waist and slammed his cock deep into the other man's ass, driving him deep into AJ in the process. The two men moaned loudly, but he didn't give either of them any time to adjust. Instead he thrusted in and out of Shawn as hard and fast as he could, letting Shawn and AJ moan as loud as they wanted. _I'm definitely not here to get sucked into this whole thing…although I have to say, this isn't that bad…_

When he knew that he was close, he pulled out and moved Shawn on to his back right next to AJ. He stroked himself until he climaxed, shooting his seed right on to both of the men. _Talk about a photo finish,_ he thought to himself, almost making himself laugh in the process.

"Alright cut!" Hunter said. "People let's take twenty and then we'll do it again."

Adam closed his eyes and took a deep breath. _Again? Well shit, I'm not gonna complain. This is way too easy of money to pass up._

….

Jeff let out a whoop as the weed eater roared to life in his hands. He was officially one chore away from being done, which meant that he could go pack for his trip with Phil. "Die you mother fucking weeds!" he shouted, waving the weed eater around and moving his feet in time to the music that could only be heard in his head. "Get your god damn selves out of my lawn! Your trespassing will not be tolerated!"

"You know they can't understand you, right?"

Jeff looked back and saw that Matt was standing behind him. "You shush now boy!" he ordered. "The weeds are smarter than you think."

Matt chuckled in amusement. He wasn't taking Jeff seriously at all. "Can you shut that thing off for a minute? I need to talk to you real quick."

Jeff sighed and reluctantly turned the weed eater off. Weed eating was the only chore he actually liked and he didn't like being interrupted when he was doing it. "What is it Matty?" he asked.

"Eve and I need to know if you're bringing anyone with you to the wedding," Matt explained. "I know we've asked you this before, but you've never given us a straight answer. And we kind of have to know now so--"

"No," Jeff replied. "I'm not bringing anyone." He didn't mention the fact that he was going with Phil and they just weren't telling anyone else that it was a date. "I don't--why do you have that look on your face?"

Matt tried to look innocent. "What look?"

Jeff rolled his eyes. "You can't fool me Matt. You didn't like my answer and you know it."

Matt sighed. "It's just…Dad's getting concerned that you haven't had a girlfriend yet. You don't even show an interest in them even if they throw themselves at you. I told Dad a thousand times that you just prefer to be in your own little world and that you'll show an interest in girls when you feel like it."

_Which will be never,_ Jeff thought as he scowled. _Haven't you guys caught on yet? I know I've been keeping my gayness a secret but good grief, someone should have caught on by now._

Matt kept babbling but Jeff stopped listening to him. He just looked over and stared at Eve as she approached them. He couldn't deny that she was pretty, but he knew for a fact that if it were him that she was interested in, he wouldn't be able to do it. He didn't even understand how Matt could do it. The thought of just being with a woman sexually repulsed him.

"Hey Jeff," Eve said, ignoring the cranky look that was on his face. She wasn't as oblivious as Matt and Gil seemed to be; she was way too smart to be. She just chose to keep her mouth shut and act like nothing was wrong. Jeff didn't mind that; in fact, he was kind of glad she did that. It meant that she knew how to mind her own business, which was something not a lot of people had the ability to do. "I got you something." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a package of blood capsules.

"Oh no, not those things again," Matt groaned. He gave his fiancé a disappointed look. "Must you encourage this habit?"

Eve rolled her eyes. "Oh hush. The only reason you don't like him doing this is because he spit them all over you that one time."

Jeff giggled and took the blood capsules away from Eve. "Thanks," he said, ripping the package open and sticking two of the capsules in his mouth. Then he let out a whoop and began weed eating again, spitting out the fake blood when his mouth got too full. He didn't really know why he enjoyed chewing on the damn things so much; he just knew that he did and like most other things he liked to do, he just did it without really thinking about the reasoning behind it.

"That is disgusting," Matt stated. He jumped back a little when Jeff tried to spit the fake blood at him. "You better not eat those in the house. Dad just about killed you when you got that shit on the couch last time."

Jeff spit out a huge mouthful of fake blood before sticking more capsules in his mouth. "Don't worry Matty boy. I ain't no fool." He restarted the weed eater and got back to work. He could faintly hear Matt and Eve talking but he ignored them in favor of doing the weed eating. Once he was done, he put the weed eater back in the shed and finished off the blood capsules before going back to the house. When he got there he saw his dad talking to his uncle Bill and aunt Shirley in the kitchen. _Oh wonderful_, he thought as he discreetly rolled his eyes. Aunt Shirley was okay but he couldn't stand Uncle Bill at all. The guy was a fucking asshole.

"Jeff what happened to you?" Shirley asked. Her mouth had dropped open and her face had turned pale.

Gil looked over at Jeff and rolled his eyes. "Have you been chewing those damn blood capsules again?"

"Yeah," Jeff admitted. He started to go upstairs so he could get in the shower.

"Did you get those chores done?" Gil asked.

"Uh huh."

"Alright. Good boy."

"Jeff hold on a second," Bill ordered.

Jeff sighed. _Shit. This won't be good._ He turned around to look at his uncle. "What?"

"That trip you're going on this weekend…do you know the kind of people that are gonna be at that little get together you're going to?"

"Yeah, their musicians," Jeff replied.

"No, they're not just musicians," Bill snapped. "That's bad enough. No, I'm talking about the queers and dykes that will be running around. I know that—"

"Oh God," Jeff groaned. He didn't want to hear his uncle's homphobic crap today. "Bill—"

Gil put his hands up and shook his head. "Jeff please, just calm down." He looked at Bill. "I know your concerned Bill and I won't lie and say I'm not worried too. But Phil's a good boy and his family are good people. I trust them to keep Jeff out of trouble."

Bill snorted. "I've seen that Brooks kid. He's a queer if I ever saw one."

Jeff clenched his fists tightly. Nobody talked about his boyfriend like that and got away with it. "Don't talk about Phil like that!" he growled, really wishing that he could punch his uncle right in the face. It might not solve anything but it would make him feel better.

"Jeff, go upstairs," Gil ordered. "Bill, cool your damn jets, alright?"

_Fuck fuck fuck_, Jeff thought as he stormed upstairs. _Fuck that fucking homphobic bastard. I'm gonna punch him in the face one of these days. I'm not even kidding._ He kicked the wall before going into the bathroom. _It's a good thing I'm leaving tomorrow. I need a break from this fucking place._


	4. Chapter 4

"So you actually did a porno?" Mark asked in disbelief. James's long time lover was sitting on the couch with James and James's youngest son Connor, and the three of them looked very amused by Adam's retelling of what had happened in Likansuk Porn the previous day. "You really went through with that shit?"

"Yeah," Adam confirmed. "I did." He took the lid off his beer and took a drink of it. He, Jay and Chris had gone to James's house to hang out until it was time to meet up with the others for dinner. They would have already been at the restaurant, but they had to give Daffney a chance to pick up her cousin Phil and his boyfriend Jeff from the airport. "It wasn't that bad really. It was a little weird but I think it was worth it. I can pay for my rent and get my car fixed."

James raised his own beer up in the air. "Hell yeah Copeland. That's what I'm talking about." He then proceeded to chug half of his beer in one sitting.

"Would you stop that?" Mark snapped at James. "I swear, if you get drunk before we even get to the damn restaurant, I will fucking kill you."

Connor giggled madly. "Kill kill kill!"

James smirked. "You wouldn't kill me Marky. You love me too much."

Mark just muttered obscenities in response to that statement.

Adam chuckled. He liked coming over here. These guys were amusing as hell to watch.

"Chris, give it back!" Jay whined as he chased his boyfriend back into the room. He was trying desperately to snatch something out of Chris's hands. "It's mine damn it!"

Chris just laughed as he continued his game of Keep Away. "No way Jay Jay. Possession is nine tenths of the law and as of right now, I have possession of it now so it is technically mine."

"No it is not!" Jay objected. "Now give it back!"

"What the fuck are you two fighting about?" Adam asked, trying to step in before James and Mark started cracking some skulls.

"Chris stole my stress ball!" Jay informed him. "I was squeezing it and then he took it right out of my hand and now he won't give it back!"

"I only did that because you were paying more attentin to it than me!" Chris said defensively. "My balls need love too!"

Connor giggled. "Chris's balls are being neglected!"

"Connor, this is no laughing matter," James scolded. "Neglected balls is a terrible epidemic that is sweeping this great nation. It can happen to any man at any time, and it's becoming the fastest cause of impotence worldwide."

Mark glared at James. "If you don't stop babbling like an idiot, I will personally make sure that your balls are the ones that are being neglected."

James pouted. That threat had gone over as well as a fart in church usually did. "Why are you always spoiling my fun Marky? Can't you remove the stick that's up your ass for two seconds and lighten up a little?"

Adam did his best to ignore the argument that was starting between Mark and James and focused on trying to play peacemaker between Chris and Jay. This was a role that he was very familiar with and even though it was a pain in the ass to do sometimes, he went along with it anyway because they were his friends. "Jay, say you're sorry for neglecting Chris's balls. And Chris, stop being a jackass and give Jay his stress ball back."

Jay folded his arm over his chest and stuck out his lower lip. "But I didn't do anything wrong!"

"Well Chris thinks you did," Adam told him. "So humor him for once and say you're sorry so you two don't fight all through dinner."

Jay sighed and gave in. "Chrissy, I'm sorry. Now can I get my ball back?"

Chris reluctantly handed the ball over. "You love that ball more than me," he said unhappily.

"Oh I do not," Jay said in exasperation. "But I have to say that it's annoying me a hell of a lot less right now."

Chris's eyes widened and that started another argument between him and Jay. Adam almost stepped in again to play peacemaker, but decided that this was one of the times that it was going to be absolutely pointless to do so. Chris and Jay seemed determined to fight like cats and dogs tonight. He leaned back in his chair and looked over at the others. Connor had run off somewhere and James and Mark were starting to smack the shit out of each other. It would be a miracle if a full fledged brawl didn't break out between the two of them within the next couple of minutes. Adam just sighed and went back to drinking his beer. _Oh well, at least dinner won't be boring._

…

Jeff looked at his chipped nail polish. He and Phil had been on the plane for about two hours and he was bored out of his mind. He sighed and looked at Phil, who slouched over in the seat next to him. Phil had fallen asleep and Jeff couldn't help but giggle. Phil looked too cute like that. "Philly wake up," Jeff said as he gently shook his boyfriend.

Phil was so startled that he just about jumped out of his seat. "Don't drown the bunnies!" he mumbled, looking around wildly. When he realized that he was in a plane and not surrounded by evil people who wanted to drown the bunnies, he relaxed and grinned at Jeff. "Hey baby."

"Don't drown the bunnies?" Jeff repeated.

Phil shook his head. "Believe me, you don't want to know." He wrapped his arm around Jeff and pulled him closer. "I'm glad you got to come with me," he said quietly as he kissed the top of Jeff's head. "We needed to get the fuck out of that town."

Jeff nodded in agreement. "I don't want to go back there," he confessed. "I fucking hate it there." He looked down at his nails. He had always known that Cameron had been suffocating him, but he hadn't realized how much it had been doing so until his and Phil's flight had taken off.

"Look on the bright side though," Phil said, trying to sound as upbeat as possible. "May is only a few months away. We just got to ride the shit storm until then and once we graduate, we can go to Raleigh and get a place of our own."

That was a nice plan and all, but Jeff didn't want to wait that long. He didn't know if he could take a few more months of being stuck in that place. Phil seemed to sense what he was thinking because the next thing he knew, he was being made to look up at the dark haired teen. "Jeff come on, you know if we just run away, they'll come looking for us," he said gently. "As bad as home sucks, if we wait till May to leave, everyone will just let us go. We can be free without any consequences."

Jeff sighed. "I know, it just sucks. Bill fucking--"

"Fuck Bill," Phil said vehemently. "Forget about that asshole. What he says and thinks doesn't matter."

"I know, but the things he said about you…fuck, I just about hit him right in his stupid mouth."

"I bet you did," Phil said with a grin." He kissed Jeff on the lips. "Look, let's not think about this shit right now. We're supposed to have fun on this trip."

Jeff grinned a little bit. He knew exactly what kind of fun Phil was talking about. "We could have some right now," he suggested seductively. "I know we already joined the mile high club earlier but we could--"

"All passengers need to return to their seats as we will be descending here shortly."

Jeff groaned. _Stupid intercom lady. You just spoiled my airplane sex._

Phil chuckled and patted Jeff on the head. "Looks like we'll just have to wait baby."

Jeff didn't want to wait, but once again, he didn't have a choice in the matter. So he pouted and put his seatbelt back on and waited for the flight to land. It took about ten minutes, and once it was on the ground, he and Phil couldn't get off the plane fast enough. "How are we going to find Daffney in this?" Jeff asked when he saw the crowd at the airport. The place was an absolute zoo.

"Oh don't worry, there's no way we'll miss her," Phil assured him. "She--"

"PHIL!"

Jeff just about jumped out of his skin as a crazy Goth chick came running at them as fast as she possibly could. She jumped right into Phil's arms and although Phil stumbled a little bit as he caught her, he managed to regain his footing and then spin her around in circles.

"Daffney!" Phil said happily. He set her down and then went back to Jeff's side. "Daffney, this is my boyfriend Jeff. Jeff, this is my cousin Daffney."

Jeff gave Daffney a small wave. "Hi."

Daffney grinned. "Phil, you didn't tell me he was this adorable!" She went ahead and hugged Jeff before grabbing both him and Phil and dragging them along. "Come on, let's get your luggage and get out of here. We're having a dinner with some of my friends in like a half hour."

"I thought you said we would get to go to your house first," Phil said as they followed her. "You know, so Jeff and I could relax."

"Relax?" Daffney laughed. "Philly, I'm not stupid. I know you and Jeff just wanted to have sex, which is something you can have later."

"But we want to have it now," Phil whined. He pulled a trick that Jeff usually did and tried pouting to get his way.

Daffney glared at him. "Knock that off Punkers. Roddy is closing down his bar so we can have the whole place to ourselves when we eat. And I'm fucking starving, so we're going straight there."

Phil sighed. "Fine." Now he was just pouting in disappointment.

Jeff grabbed Phil's hand and kissed the Straightedge man's cheek. "We don't need to wait until we get to the house to do it. We can just go in the bathroom and--"

"Fuck each others brains out?" Daffney finished cheerfully. "Oooh, can I watch?"

Jeff and Phil stopped in their tracks and stared at her with wide eyes. They had no idea how to respond to that request.

Daffney grinned innocently. "What? What did I say?"

**....**

**A/N: Oh Daffney...you know what you said.**

**I know this was mostly just filler, but it's filler that sets the stage for Adam and Jeff meeting for the first time. So that's something at least.**


	5. Chapter 5

"Are they all here yet?" Roddy asked impatiently.

"No Hot Rod, they aren't," Mark said with a sigh. "Maybe if you quit asking every five seconds then they might actually show up."

Roddy glared at Mark. "Hey, I closed down my business just so all of you could have a private dinner here. The least you could all do is show up on time."

Adam agreed with Roddy, but that was only because he was fucking starving. He, Mark, James, Connor, Jay and Chris had been the first to arrive at the bar, and they had been closely followed by Cooper, Rob and Amy. Randy had showed up with his friends Cody and Ted (who hadn't stopped making out since they had arrived) and then much to Adam's surprise, Mickie and her girlfriend Trish had shown up. As it turned out, Trish and Amy had been friends for awhile and Amy was looking to integrate Trish and Mickie into her circle of friends. So far it seemed to be working pretty well; Mickie and Cooper were having a discussion about the movie Zombieland and Trish was trying to referee an arm wrestling match between Amy and Jay.

_Now if only Daffney would hurry the hell up_, Adam thought to himself as he began consuming his fourth beer of the night. He really wanted something stronger, but everyone had been telling him to at least hold on until they went out to the club after dinner.

Randy sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "I don't see why we can't start eating without Daffney and her little friends," he grumbled. "I'm fucking starving here."

"I am too," Adam said. "But remember what happened the last time we started eating without Daffney? She took it personally and freaked out on us."

"She was PMSing then," Randy pointed out. "She always freaks out more when it's that time of the month."

Adam gave Randy an incredulous look. "And you would know that because?"

"Amy told me," Randy answered. "Don't worry, I don't know from personal experience or anything."

"But you _want_ to know from personal experience," Adam said smugly.

Randy wrinkled his nose. "Hell no. There's no way I would touch her with a twenty foot pole."

"_Excuse me_?" Amy snapped, now glaring at Randy.

Trish giggled. "You're going to get it! You're going to get it!" she said gleefully.

Randy gulped and scooted away from Amy. The red head was a force to be reckoned with when she was pissed. "I didn't mean that the way it sounded," he said, trying to cover his own ass as fast as he possibly could. "I just meant that because she doesn't have a dick--"

"How do _you_ know she doesn't have a dick?" Amy asked.

Randy opened and shut his mouth wordlessly for a long couple of minutes. He looked so much like a fish at the moment that Adam would have laughed if he hadn't been so shocked by Amy's statement. "Wait, Daffney has a penis?" he said loudly.

Chris spit his drink out all over Cody and Ted. "What?" he yelled.

"Wait, who has a penis?" James asked.

Amy rolled her eyes. "No Adam, Daffney does not have a penis. I was just saying that to freak--"

"She has a penis when she wears her strap on!" Connor pointed out.

Mark promptly choked on his beer as Amy turned as red as her hair. Cooper smacked Connor on the back of his head. "Would you keep your mouth shut?" he asked.

"No!" Connor replied. He turned to face Mickie. "Do you wear a strap on when you fuck Trish? Or does she wear it?"

Cooper went to smack his brother again but Roddy grabbed his wrist and stopped him. "Just hold on a second kid," he said. "I want to hear her answer."

Mickie just smiled. "A good girl never kisses and tells."

Trish grinned at her girlfriend. She obviously liked that answer.

Connor, however, did not like that answer. "Meanie!" he shouted. "Meanie meanie meanie!" He stomped his feet a couple of times before folding his arms over his chest and sticking out his lower lip. There was no telling how long he was going to pout now.

The door to the bar opened and in walked Daffney and two teenagers. Adam took one look at the first teen and just knew he was Daffney's cousin. Only an idiot couldn't see it. _Cute…but not really my type._ His eyes traveled over to the other teen as he went to take a drink of his beer. As soon as he took one good look at that other teen though, he froze right in his tracks. _Oh…my…God…_

"Hey guys," Daffney said, bouncing around and waving eagerly. "This is my cousin Phil and his boyfriend Jeff."

Adam didn't even move as everyone else greeted the newcomers. All he could do was stare at Jeff. The young man's purple and blue hair was hanging loosely down his shoulders and he was wearing a very tight black t-shirt and even tighter jeans. He was twirling a sucker around in his mouth and it was turning his lips purple. Adam was totally and completely entranced by him. _And I thought Mor was hypnotizing._

It wasn't until Randy elbowed him in the ribs that he finally looked away from Jeff. "Ow!" he whined, glaring at his long time friend. "Asshole!"

Randy just smirked. "You know you love me."

Adam responded to that by elbowing Randy back. Randy yelped in pain before looking at the others for support. "Adam hit me!" he complained.

Everyone just rolled their eyes. "Feel free to ignore Randy and Adam," Daffney told Phil and Jeff. "We all do."

Randy pouted. "That's not nice Daff. We don't want to be ignored."

"Yeah," Adam agreed, his eyes once again on Jeff. He couldn't help himself; Jeff was too adorable _not_ to look at. "We feel unloved when we're ignored."

"Aw, poor babies," Jeff said, finally taking the sucker out of his mouth. His eyes met Adam's and his face began to turn red as soon as Adam grinned at him. All that did was make Adam grin more.

"Alright kiddies, enough chit chat," Roddy said loudly. He had left the room without Adam noticing and was now coming back with several large boxes of pizza. He walked over to the giant table that had been made out of four separate tables earlier in the evening and set the pizza down in the center of it. "Get to eating," he ordered. "I still have a business to run after all."

James rolled his eyes as they all began helping themselves to the pizza. "It's nice to know you love us so much Hot Rod," he said sarcastically.

Roddy rolled his eyes right back at James. "I do love you guys." He pulled up a chair and sat down next to Rob. "Would I have closed this place down just for all of you in the first place if I didn't?"

"No you wouldn't have," Rob said before James could. "And for that we appreciate you."

Adam chuckled to himself as he took a bite of his pizza. _Rob really just appreciates it because he and Cooper got high in the bathroom before dinner._ Everyone else had been distracted at the time because James and Mark had been wrestling all over the floor, but Adam had watched Rob and Cooper sneak off for some Cheech and Chong type fun. He had almost went and joined them, but he ended up not doing so in the end. He had smoked weed a few times in high school and it had never really done anything for him. Booze had always worked much better.

Chris shoveled a whole bunch of food into his mouth and then attempted to ask Phil and Jeff something. Unfortunately, because he neglected to chew and swallow his food, some of it ended up falling back on to his plate. "Chris!" Jay said in exasperation. He looked like he was trying t to fight his urge to gag wildly. "That's disgusting!"

Chris swallowed what was left in his mouth. "Sorry," he said, not sounding sorry at all. He quickly picked up what had fallen out of his mouth and put it back in there.

"That is disgusting," Adam declared, meaning that with every fiber of his being. He almost didn't even want to touch his food now. "What in the blue hell is wrong with you?"

"Well, did you want to look at it?" Chris asked defensively.

"No, but--"

"No buts! You will not but me you Butt Master!"

Adam blinked, not sure if that Butt Master thing was really an insult or not. But before he could figure it out, he was distracted by Jeff giggling. Adam looked at him and quickly found himself grinning again.

"Ugh, don't laugh," Jay said with a shake of his head. "It just encourages him." He gave Chris an irritated look as he said this. "What did I tell you about trying to talk with your mouth full?"

Chris shrugged. "I don't know; I wasn't listening." At least he was being honest.

Jay slapped Chris's arm. "Idiot!"

Chris just smirked. He knew that Jay loved him anyway (which was something Adam had never been able to totally comprehend. "So, like I was saying before, he said, turning his attention back to Phil and Jeff. "Where are you guys from?"

"I'm from Cameron," Jeff replied.

Chris frowned. "Kid, I didn't ask you whose vagina you crawled out of; I want to know what _city_ you're from."

"Cameron is a dinky little town in North Carolina you idiot," Daffney said in exasperation. "It's not his mother."

Phil nodded. "It's only got a couple hundred people in it. I moved to there from Chicago four years ago and it took me forever to get used to how tiny it was."

Jeff shook his head. "Honey, I hate to tell you this, but you're still not used to it. You complain about there being nothing to do there all the time."

"Well there _isn't_ anything to do there," Phil pointed out. "I mean, besides from fucking, watching TV and riding around on your motorcross track, there's nothing that's keeping us from dying from boredom."

Adam raised his eyebrows. "You have a motorcross track?" he asked Jeff.

Jeff nodded. "Yeah."

"He made it himself," Phil said, grabbing Jeff's hand and kissing it (which made Adam secretly twitch with jealousy). "You should see it. He set it up all by himself. He made all kinds of hills to jump from and he's even got a volcano in the middle of it."

"I saw a movie about a volcano once," Connor said, throwing his two cents in. "A whole bunch of stuff came out of it and it burned people to death!" He giggled. "I wanted a volcano as a pet but Daddy wouldn't let me have one. He's mean like that."

"Oh…well he sucks then," Phil said slowly. It appeared that Daffney had not warned him or Jeff about Connor's madness.

James glared at Phil. "Hey! I heard that!"

Adam chose to ignore whatever was now being said between Phil and James and focused on Jeff. "You ever compete in any races?" he asked. "Or do you just ride for fun?"

Randy snickered at the word ride and Adam quickly smacked him.

"I've done a few races," Jeff said, seemingly oblivious to Randy's antics. "But I broke my collar bone about a year ago and I technically don't have permission to ride my bikes anymore cuz my dad and my brother think I'm going to break something again." He grinned a little bit. "But they don't know that I hid all my bikes at my friend Shannon's house and when they're gone, I go get the bike and ride on the track."

"Oooh, you're such a rebel," Adam said with a grin.

Jay caught on to the look in Adam's eye and he tried to get into the conversation. "So how long have you and Phil been dating for?"

Adam glared at Jay and gave him a look that said "Would you keep your fucking mouth shut?". Jay glared back at him and his look said "He's got a boyfriend you idiot! What the hell do you think you're doing?" And Adam gave him a look that said "Look at him! Can you blame me for flirting?" Jay saw that look and rolled his eyes. He knew there was no reasoning with Adam when he wanted something.

"We've been dating for six months," Jeff said, looking over at Phil. Phil had his eyes on Adam, and despite Adam's best attempt to look innocent, he had a feeling that Phil was starting to catch on to the fact that he was checking out Jeff.

"Six months huh?" Chris said, shaking his head in disbelief. "When I was your age, I couldn't get a relationship to last six _weeks_."

"That's because nobody was stupid enough to put up with you for longer than that until you met Jay," Randy said with a smirk.

Jay threw an ice cube at Randy's face. "Bitch! I'm smarter than you are!"

"But are you smarter than a fifth grader?" Randy asked. "Now _that _is the real question."

As Jay and Randy continued bickering back and forth, Daffney pulled Phil into her, Mark, Amy and Roddy's debate about horror movies and Chris decided to start throwing things at Cody and Ted, which gave Adam a chance to keep talking to Jeff. "You said you had a brother?" he said, going with the first thing that came to his mind.

Jeff nodded. "Yeah. His name is Matt." He arched his hips up so he could pull his phone out from his pocket. He flipped it open and pressed some buttons on it before handing it over to Adam. "The girl with him is his fiancé Eve," he explained. "The wedding is three weeks from now."

Adam looked at the picture of the happy couple for a second before giving Jeff his phone back. "Nice."

"So what about you?" Jeff asked. "You got a brother?"

"Not that I know of," Adam replied.

"Huh?"

"My dad ran out on me and my mom before I was even born," he explained. "I've only seen like one picture of him in my entire life. For all I know, I could have like a billion siblings running around the world."

"Oh." Jeff gave him a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry."

Adam just shrugged. "Don't be. I'm not."

"Does your mom live somewhere nearby?"

"No, she still loves up in Toronto."

"Oh." Jeff began playing with his food. "So what do you do? You know, for a job?"

Adam winced. This was never a question he liked answering. "I uh…I'm kind of job hunting at the moment. There was a little bit of an incident at my last job and I kind of got fired."

"What was the incident?"

"I punched my boss in the face for hitting on the boyfriend I had at the time." Adam figured it was just best to be honest. Who wouldn't punch their boss in the face for trying to steal their lover? Seriously, it was like the most legitimate reason ever to get yourself fired.

Jeff actually grinned. "You really did that? Is it wrong that I find that hot?"

"I don't think so. But then again, I'm not always the best judge of that kind of stuff."

Jeff thought about it for a second. When he was done, the grin was still on his face. "I stand by my opinion. That's hot."

"Well I'm glad you think so." Adam cast a look over at Phil, who was still being distracted by the horror movie conversation. "So what about you? Do you have a job?"

"Sometimes," Jeff replied.

"Sometimes?"

"Yeah. Sometimes I do some work with a landscaping service, but I only do it when I really need money. I usually just like to sit around and paint and stuff."

"You're an artist?"

"Yeah."

"Sweet. So uh, are you and Phil going out with us after we eat?"

Jeff hesitated. "I think so." He tapped Phil on the shoulder. "Phil? Are we going out with everyone after we eat?"

Phil's eyes darted to Adam and for a second, it seemed like he was going to say that he didn't want to. But then he saw the hopeful look Jeff was giving him and he caved. "I guess if you want to," he said slowly.

Jeff grinned. "I want to."

Adam quickly hid his grin (and shielded his eyes from the kiss Jeff gave Phil) behind his slice of pizza. He was glad Jeff and Phil were going to the club with them. If someone got Phil distracted, he could have some one on one time with Jeff.

And unless he was completely mistaken (and he was sure he wasn't), he had a feeling that Jeff wouldn't be opposed to that at all.


	6. Chapter 6

Jeff stared out the window as Daffney drove along. Dinner was over and now everyone was on their way to a nearby club. He was riding along with Daffney, Amy and Phil, who was all quiet and broody for some reason. "What's wrong Philly?" Jeff asked, looking over at his boyfriend.

Phil shook his head. "Nothing."

Jeff frowned. He could tell that Phil was lying. "If nothing's wrong then why do you look all upset?"

"I'm not upset," Phil insisted. "I'm fine."

"Phil, I think everyone who has ever known you has been over this with you a thousand times: you can't lie to save your life," Daffney said, getting involved in the conversation. "Seriously, you are a worse liar than Amy is."

"And I'm pretty fucking bad at it," Amy said, tucking a strand of her fiery red hair behind her ears. She looked back at Phil and smiled gently. "I think maybe you should just tell Jeff here what's bothering you. You'll probably be a lot better off if you do."

Phil sighed. "I don't wanna."

Daffney groaned. "Why not?"

"Because it involves your friend Adam."

Jeff immediately tried to ignore strange stirring sensation he got as soon as he heard Adam's name. All throughout the conversation that had taken place between him and the older blonde, he had felt some sort of primal attraction for him. He had ignored it as best as he could and had tried to keep himself as neutral and platonic as possible, but he couldn't lie to himself. There was something about Adam that had called to him…_no,_ he told himself. _Stop that. Don't even go down that road. You won't be able to stop once you do._ "What about Adam?" he asked innocently.

Phil rolled his eyes. "What do you mean what about him? He was drooling all over you!"

"He was?" Playing dumb was Jeff's first instinct and he was going with it.

Phil shook his head. He knew Jeff too well to fall for that. "Come on, don't tell me that you didn't notice what he was doing. Hell, you were lapping up the attention all through dinner!"

Jeff turned red. "I was not!"

"You were too!"

"Uh oh," Amy said under her breath. "Teenage drama…"

Daffney shook her head. "Jesus Christ Phil, when did you start having jealous freak outs?" She turned left, honking at a guy who attempted to cut her off. "I thought you were better than that."

"Yeah," Jeff agreed before Phil could defend himself. "I thought you were too."

Phil sighed. This was obviously the reason he had not wanted to bring this up in the first place. "Look, I'm not trying to have a freak out here. But there's something about Adam that just…I don't know…makes me feel uneasy."

Jeff shook his head. "You're being paranoid," he said. "Adam was just being nice to me. He--" He stopped talking as he heard Amy snort and then saw Daffney try to smack her into shutting up.

"Did you have to do that?" Daffney asked her girlfriend in exasperation. "Now they're going to stare at us until we explain what that snorting was about."

Amy sighed. "Sorry. I couldn't help it."

"What is it?" Phil asked. "What are you guys talking about?"

Daffney and Amy exchanged a look before explaining. "Look, Adam's a nice guy at heart," Amy said, looking back at Phil and Jeff. "He really is. But sometimes his actions don't always support that."

Jeff frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Well for one thing, he's practically an alcoholic," Daffney said bluntly. "And when he drinks too much, he blacks out completely for hours at a time."

"He's also a bit of a hot head," Amy added. "And uh…well he has a tendency to not only want things he shouldn't want, but he tries to get those things even if he knows its wrong."

"What exactly does that mean?" Phil asked nervously.

"Well…" Amy looked like she didn't want to say this, but she ended up doing it anyway. "Let's use his last boyfriend John as an example. When he and John met, John was dating a guy named Mike. Hell, Mike was the one who introduced the two of them. And as soon as Adam got his chance, he charmed the pants right of JoMo and stole him from Mike."

Daffney snorted. "I don't think its stealing when the slut was looking for an excuse to get away from Miz."

Amy glared at Daffney. "Don't call Mor a slut!"

"Why not? It's what he is. He cheated on Mike their entire relationship, we all know he cheated on Adam like a half a dozen times and he's probably cheating on Drew as we speak. Let's face the facts Red: Mor has, does and will always spread his legs for anything with a cock."

"Does that include animals?" Jeff asked, trying to lighten the mood a little bit.

Phil wrinkled his nose. "Jeff! That's disgusting!"

"I know, but it was a valid question."

Phil shook his head. "Only you would think that was a valid question."

Jeff grinned. He was choosing to take that as a compliment. The grin disappeared though when Daffney suddenly began blaring the car horn and going nuts on the person driving in front of them.

"GET OUT OF THE WAY COCKSUCKER!" she screeched at the top of her lungs. She looked ready to jump out of the vehicle and start wailing on the guy who was daring to get in her way. "WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU? QUIT PUTTING ON YOUR BRAKES EVERY FIVE FUCKING SECONDS! YOU STUPID PIECE OF SHIT? WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?"

"Whoa whoa whoa!" Phil exclaimed. "Take it easy Daffney!"

"NO!" she refused. "I WILL NOT TAKE IT EASY!"

Amy groaned. "This is why I should always drive. You're as bad as James when you get behind the wheel."

"I am not!" Daffney said defensively. She pulled into the club and parked the car as close to the building as possible. After shutting off the car, she took a couple of deep breaths before letting out an insane giggle and hopping out of the car like she didn't have a care in the world.

Jeff blinked and then looked at Amy and Phil. They were both shaking their head. "She has issues," Phil said. "Try not to mind her…you'll get used to it eventually."

"Okay," Jeff said, even though he doubted that very much. That just wasn't the type of crazy that a person could get used to completely.

The three of them got out of the car and went into the crowded club. Jeff held on to Phil's hand as tight as he could as they went past all the people, eventually finding the others at three tables that had been successfully claimed for them. "There you guys are!" James said loudly, only giving them a quick glance as he continued to pour drinks for everyone. "It's about time. I thought we were going to have to drink without you."

Mark snorted. "Oh please Lawson. You didn't give a shit whether they showed up or not."

"I know but they didn't have to know that."

Amy rolled her eyes as she sat down on Daffney's lap. "That's nice James," she said sarcastically. "Like really. I feel so fucking loved right now."

Trish patted Amy's shoulder. "It's okay honey. The rest of us still love you."

"Wow, how touching," Cooper said, pretending like he was not currently attempting to gag. "Let's get down to business people. This tequila is not going to drink itself."

"Damn right it's not," Chris agreed. He attempted to grab the shot glass right in front of him but Adam snatched it up first and downed it in one gulp. "Hey!" Chris protested. "What the hell man?"

Adam slammed the glass down at the table and smirked. "You snooze you lose Jeriho."

Jeff giggled at the insulted look on Chris's face before grabbing a shot of his own. He had stolen some beer from his dad before, but this was the first time he was ever going to drink something stronger than that.

"Aren't you going to grab one?" Cody asked Phil.

Phil shook his head. "I don't drink."

"He's Straightedge," Jeff said before downing his shot. The tequila burned his throat on the way down and made him cough.

"He's what?" Cody said in confusion.

"It means he doesn't drink or smoke or do drugs," Ted explained.

"Oh." Cody looked at Phil like he was insane. "Well why would you be that? That doesn't sound like it would be fun at all."

Phil just shrugged. "Maybe it doesn't to you, but I'm happy not getting all fucked up." He eyed Jeff as the multicolor haired teen took another shot. "Ease up there honey," he whispered so the others couldn't hear (although it wasn't very likely they were paying attention at all because they had started taking shots themselves). "You're going to make yourself sick--"

"Am not," Jeff denied. He grabbed the tequila bottle and poured himself another shot. Even though he respected Phil for being his own person with the Straightedge thing, it was not something he really wanted for himself.

"So what exactly do you do for fun if you don't drink?" Cody asked after several more rounds of shots. He seemed bound and determine to grill Phil about this whole Straightedge thing. Whether it was because he was genuinely interested in it or it was him just trying to find a flaw in it had yet to be determined.

Phil just smirked before taking Jeff's drink out of his hand and putting it on the table. "Come on baby," he said. "Come with me."

Jeff whined. He was really getting a taste for the tequila and didn't want to stop drinking it yet. "But--"

"Dance with me," Phil said seductively, pulling Jeff away from the table. "Please?"

Jeff grinned. He loved dancing. Besides from sex and painting, it was his favorite thing to do. "Okay," he agreed. "I'll dance with you Philly."

"Good," Phil said as he gave Jeff a quick peck on the lips.

…

Adam quickly downed another drink and tried to pretend that he wasn't paying attention to the kiss. He knew that he was being stupid. He shouldn't let this bother him. Phil and Jeff were dating and he knew damn well that interfering in relationships was not only messy business, but it didn't always end very well for him. But just because his brain was telling himself this didn't mean that he was actually listening. He clenched his fist under the table as Phil dragged Jeff out to the dance floor, having a hard time resisting the urge of taking Jeff for himself.

Jay sighed and patted Adam on the back. "Don't do it Adam," he said. "I know what you're thinking and you need to forget about it."

Adam shook his head. "I'm not thinking about anything." He sighed as he noticed that nobody appeared to believe him. "I'm not!"

Daffney leaned forward and glared at Adam. "Hey! Mother fucker! You stay away from my cousin's boyfriend or I'll stab you in the face!"

Adam scooted away from the crazy Goth as quickly as he could, which made James and Mark laugh. He didn't really appreciate that. Daffney was crazy enough to actually go through with that threat and everyone knew it.

Randy shook his head. "Chill out Daff. If Jeff's crazy about Phil, he won't let Adam seduce him."

"I don't know about that," Chris said as he tilted his head and stared at Adam. "I mean, the whole point of seducing someone is getting them to do things they wouldn't normally do…and I mean come on, look at Adam. He's a hot little piece of ass."

Jay smacked Chris upside the head. "Hey!"

"Ow!" Chris cried out. He gave Jay a hurt look. "What the hell was that for?"

"You are not allowed to check out Adam!" Jay declared. "At least not without my permission!"

Chris sighed. "Fine. Whatever you say Jay Jay."

Mickie snorted. "Oh my God, are you kidding me? Jesus Christ you are so whipped!"

Chris glared at her. "I am not." He looked at the others. "Does anyone else here think that I'm whipped?"

Everyone else raised their hands all at once. Chris sighed dramatically before getting up to his feet and storming off. "Chris wait!" Jay ordered. He got up and started chasing after his boyfriend. "You don't get to walk away from me! Get back here this instant!"

Connor giggled. 'Those two are dumb," he declared.

Cooper nodded. "Oh yeah."

"Teddy, I want to dance," Cody announced. He got up and started tugging on Ted's hand. "Come dance with me."

Ted sighed and got up to his feet. "Anyone want to come out and dance with us?"

Trish and Mickie exchanged looks. "We will," Trish said when Mickie nodded. She looked at Amy and Daffney. "You guys want to come too?"

"Yeah sure," Amy said quickly before Daffney could respond. She got up and literally started dragging the black haired woman out to the dance floor. "Come on honey."

"Oh come on, why do I have to go?" Daffney asked. She tried to slip out of Amy's grip but quickly realized that Mickie and Trish were planning on jumping in and helping with the dragging if she tried to escape. "I hate dancing!"

Adam chuckled until he looked out at the dance floor and saw Phil and Jeff dancing. Jeff was grinding up against Phil shamelessly, making Adam really wish that he was in Phil's place instead.

"He is just asking to be raped," James said as he stared at Jeff. He licked his lips and looked at Mark. "Can we rape him?"

Adam growled at James. "You stay away from him. The last thing he needs is you and Mark coming after him."

Mark raised his eyebrows. "And if we really wanted him, how exactly would you plan on stopping us?"

"I would use all my powers to spear you to hell!" Adam replied.

Connor giggled. "Spear! Spear! Spear! Spear! Spear!"

"Oh great, did you see what you started?" Cooper said in exasperation.

"Spear! Spear! Spear!" Connor was giggling like a maniac now.

Adam rolled his eyes and did his best to tune Connor out. It wasn't easy because Connor was even more irritating than Jay and Chris combined (which was no small feat), but the way Jeff was dancing was making it much easier than usual.

Randy leaned over towards Adam, setting his drink down on the table as he did so. "You know…I can't blame you for what you're thinking about doing. I really can't. I mean, I'm almost tempted to do it myself."

Adam glared at Randy. "You better not," he said.

"Why not? Who says you got to put a claim on him and not anyone else?"

Adam continued his glaring before smacking Orton upside the head. "Dumbass," he grumbled as he got up to his feet. He walked away from the table, doing his best not to run into people as he went. He needed to get some air real quick. Once he got that air he was going to…well he didn't know yet. But he was going to do something. That much was for certain.

…

Jeff's world was spinning, but unlike when it first started, he was really starting to feel sick. And the fact that he was getting all hot and sweaty from dancing wasn't really helping matters. He took a deep breath and continued grinding up against Phil, hoping that the feeling would just magically go away. Unfortunately, that did not happen. In fact, he just started to feel even worse.

"Oh shit," Phil muttered. He was looking at something in the distance. Jeff looked at where he was looking and saw that Daffney was getting into it with a couple of beefy looking dudes.

"Fuck, she never knows when to just walk away," Phil said in exasperation as Daffney actually shoved one of the guys. He unwrapped his arms from Jeff's waist. "Stay here for a second. I'll be right back."

"Actually, I'm going to go pee real quick," Jeff said quickly, wanting to hide the fact he didn't feel good from Phil. He didn't want to start any shit about the drinking he had done earlier. He didn't feel good enough to deal with it. "Let's just meet back up at the table, okay?"

Phil nodded. If he was noticing that anything was amiss with Jeff he was choosing not to say anything right at that moment. He knew Jeff well enough to know that saying something at the wrong time usually got Jeff on the defensive, which was not usually a good thing. A lot of their fights got started when Jeff began getting defensive about things. "Okay," he agreed. "That's fine with me."

Trying to act casual, Jeff made his way to the bathroom as quickly as he could. Once he was in there, he sprinted to the first stall he could get to and began puking up not only all the booze he had drank earlier, but everything he had ate at dinner too. _Ugh…this definitely tastes like shit coming back up._ Once he was finished he flushed the toilet and took a packet of mints out of his pocket. "Thank God I keep these on hand," he muttered as he stuck a giant handful of them into his mouth. He began sucking on them as he got out of the stall and went to the sink so he could rinse his face off. He actually did feel a little bit better now, which was good.

Just as he was drying his face off with a paper towel, the door opened and in walked Adam. "Hey," Adam said, closing the door behind him.

"Hey," Jeff said, ignoring the fluttering sensation in his stomach. He waded up the paper towel and threw it in the trash can.

"What's in your mouth?" Adam asked.

"Mints," Jeff replied. He began chewing them up so he could talk a little clearer. "I--" His voice died off as Adam began walking towards him. His mouth suddenly felt really dry and his heart was pounding in his chest. He didn't know why Adam was having this affect on him. There was just something about the blonde that was pulling him in and not letting him go. And to be honest--and this was not something he wanted to admit because he felt bad for even feeling it--he didn't want it to let him go. He like the attraction that he felt for Adam, even though he knew he shouldn't. "What…what are you doing?" he finally managed to ask.

Adam brushed a piece of Jeff's hair behind his ear. "This," he replied. He kissed Jeff aggressively, pushing Jeff up against the sink while doing so. Jeff did nothing to fight the kiss; in fact, he started kissing back once he got over the initial shock he felt. This kiss with Adam was completely different than any he had shared with Phil. Phil's kisses were sweeter and more gentle; Adam's were passionate, rough and dominating. Both were great but Phil's kisses had never made Jeff weak in the knees like this.

"Adam! Jesus Christ, not again!"

Jeff and Adam jumped apart and saw that Jay had caught them in the act. Jeff turned a deep shade of red and looked down. "I'm um…I'm going to go now," he said. He bailed out of the bathroom as fast as he could, the taste of Adam still lingering on his lips…


	7. Chapter 7

Adam sighed and looked down at his feet. He felt like a kid who had jut been caught by his mom getting into the cookie jar. Only, in its own way, this was worse than that because Jay was much more annoying than his mom. "That wasn't what it looked like," he said, coming up with the first argument he could think of.

Jay shook his head. "How was that not what it looked like?"

"I don't know," Adam said with a shrug. "I didn't really think that one through."

Jay sighed. "Damn it Adam, you can't do this. Just because you're attracted to Jeff doesn't mean you should be trying to steal him from Phil. Not only is that so totally violating the guy code, but I'm not sure its legal. I mean, what are the statutory laws of this state?"

Adam rolled his eyes. "First of all, you need to relax about the age thing. I'm only four years older than he is; I'm in the safe zone. And second of all, you are the last person who should be lecturing me about the guy code. If I remember correctly, you and Chris actually secretly dated while he was publicly dating Lance Cade."

Jay winced. "Ew. Must you bring that idiot into this?"

"Yes because he helps prove my point."

"He does not prove your point. He's not even relevant anymore. Besides, he made Chris miserable so--"

"Well how do you know Phil doesn't make Jeff miserable?" Adam asked defiantly.

Jay rolled his eyes. "Oh come on Adam. If you have bothered to pay attention to Phil for two seconds instead of Jeff, you would be able to see that the guy is crazy for him. It's so adorable that it's kind of painful to watch."

Adam pouted. "I'm crazy for Jeff…"

"You just met him tonight! You don't even know him that well!"

Adam shook his head. "I know I don't but that's not the point. There's a spark Jay. I feel it and I know he feels it. It's…it's strong. I mean, it's like the Incredible Hulk strong."

Jay sighed. "Didn't you say something like that when JoMo came around?"

"No. Look, John was different. He was a one night stand that somehow turned into a relationship. And fuck, I mean, I don't know if it really was much of a relationship. I mean, besides from my dick, I don't know if he actually loved me or not."

Jay shook his head. "He did love you, he just…was a compulsive cheater."

"Well no shit he was. He cheated on me six different times in our relationship and you know what? I took him back every single time. You want to know why?"

"You're an idiot?"

"No, it's cuz I loved him."

"Are you sure that you loved him and not just loved having him?"

Adam frowned. "What is that supposed to mean?"

Jay sighed. "You like _having_ things Adam. You had nothing when we were kids and you've always had issues with being alone…are you sure this is just not about you needing to be with someone to feel better about yourself?"

Adam stared at Jay for a moment, knowing his friend had a good point but not wanting to admit it. "Hey, Dr. Reso, stop trying to get into my mind. It's inappropriate."

"Wait, how is it inappropriate?"

"I don't know. I'll figure that out when I figure it out."

"You are impossible," Jay said with a sigh.

"But you still love me though, right?"

"Yeah. I don't know why at this point, but I do."

Adam grinned. "Well see, that's all that matters." He patted Jay on the back. "Now come on. I've had enough of this deep conversation bullshit. I want to go party." He ignored the look Jay gave him as he exited the bathroom. He didn't want to think about the reasoning for his actions unless they were the superficial reasons. The deeper ones made him think about things that he wanted to avoid at all costs. _Must have more tequila. Tequila will stop those stupid little memories right in their fucking tracks._

…

Jeff sighed as he followed Phil and Amy (who were dragging Daffney along with them) out of the club and into the parking lot. While he had been in the bathroom kissing Adam (which still sent shivers up and down his spine), Daffney had punched a couple of dudes and started a brawl, so now they had to retreat to safer ground. He was bothered by the fact that he hadn't gotten to say goodbye to Adam…and he was bothered by the fact that he didn't feel as guilty as he should have for kissing Adam and liking it…and all of this being bothered yet not being bothered was making his head and tummy hurt, which was not good. He wanted both of them to knock it off that instant.

"I don't see why we got to go," Daffney said as she tried to get away from Phil and Amy. She seemed like she really wanted to go back into the club. "I likes it here. And it's rude! It's rude to abandon people like--hey! Who told you that you could touch my keys? Those are MY keys to MY car! Nobody drives my car but me!"

"Yeah well, I'm driving it tonight," Phil said, making sure to keep her keys way out of her reach. "I am the designated driver and there is no way in hell I am going to let you get behind the wheel in this condition."

"Why not?" she asked. She started jumping up and down in a vain attempt to get her keys back. "I want to drive damn it!"

"Baby relax," Amy said, grabbing Daffney by the waist and pulling her close. "If you let Phil drive you can sit in the back with me and we can do things to each other."

Jeff made a face. That was the last thing he needed to have mental pictures about.

"Ooohhh." Daffney pulled Amy into a sloppy kiss and Phil rolled his eyes as he directed the two girls into the backseat of the car. "There you go. Watch your heads." He shut the door behind them and got into the driver's seat as Jeff went around to the other side and got into the passenger's side. "Well that was interesting," he said as he drove off.

Jeff nodded. "Yeah. It was." He leaned his head against the window and sighed. He didn't know what to do right now. Should he tell Phil that he kissed Adam and hope for the best? Or should he just not say anything at all and pretend nothing happened? He felt like he owed it to Phil to own up to what he did, but at the same time, he was afraid of his boyfriend's reaction. He hated fighting with people, mainly because it always seemed to get extremely ugly extremely fast. _Maybe I'll wait,_ he decided. _I don't want to talk about it now…I gotta figure out what that kiss means anyway._

"Jeff? Are you okay?" Phil asked, interrupting Jeff's thoughts.

"Yeah," Jeff lied. "I'm fine."

"You sure?"

"Yeah. I'm just tired." Jeff winced as he heard little moans coming from the backseat. "Hey now, keep it PG-13 back there," he said, not daring to turn around. "Your car is not a love machine when we're in it."

"Sure it is," Amy said cheerfully. "You two are going to have sex in our house while we're in it. It's only fair that we can touch each other in the car while you're in it."

Phil sighed and shook his head. "I hate it when people use logic against us. It's just not fair."

"I agree," Jeff said. "It's unfair and immoral and I am totally against it."

Daffney and Amy ignored them. They were way too busy making out in the backseat. Jeff made a gagging motion and Phil laughed and got them to Daffney's house. The girls were out of the car before he even put the car in park and Jeff was sure that they were going to be in their bedroom by the time he and Phil even got into the house.

Phil shook his head as he got out of the car. "Women. I don't understand them."

Jeff grinned a little bit as he walked towards the house. "Me neither. And I don't plan to even attempt to any time soon."

Phil chuckled and let Jeff go into the house first. "You want to know what's funny? I have the same plan as you do." He came in and shut the door behind him before wrapping his arms around Jeff from behind. "I guess great minds think alike."

Jeff shivered as Phil kissed his neck. _I wonder how Adam would kiss my neck…_the thought caused a stirring in his groin yet scared him at the same time, so he did his best to drive Adam out of his mind as he turned around and kissed Phil. Phil kissed him only for a couple of seconds before pulling away. "Your breath is all minty," he said in surprise.

"Yeah," Jeff said, forcing himself to grin. "I didn't think you would appreciate booze breath."

Phil accepted that answer, but it was hard for Jeff to tell whether he truly believed that answer or not. Luckily, he didn't have too long to dwell on that. Loud crashing sounds and even louder moans coming from the girls caused them to look up and shake their hands. "Whatever just broke sounds expensive," Phil stated with a smirk.

Jeff grinned and grabbed Phil by the hand. "Come on," he ordered, practically dragging his boyfriend along.

"And where exactly do you think we're going?" Phil asked in amusement.

"Well we can't let the girls have all the fun, can we?"

"No but--"

"I'm not too drunk," Jeff insisted, even though the room was spinning just a little bit. "I'm fine. Now are you gonna touch me or am I gonna have to touch myself?"

Phil shook his head. "I don't know. That second option sounds like it would be fun to watch."

Jeff pouted. _How am I supposed to fuck the memory of Adam's kiss away if I don't get fucked?_

Phil chuckled and pecked Jeff on the lips. "Don't worry baby. I'll take care of you."

Jeff grinned. "Good boy."


	8. Chapter 8

Jeff woke up the next morning with a mind numbing headache. "Oh fuck," he groaned unhappily. He rolled out of bed and barely managed to get into the bathroom before he puked up whatever didn't come out of his system back at the club.

"Jeff?" Phil called out groggily. "Are you okay?"

Jeff had to wait until he was done heaving before he could answer. "I'm fine," he lied as he flushed the toilet and rested his head against his arm. "I'll be back in a minute. Don't worry about me."

Despite his attempt to reassure his boyfriend, Phil came into the bathroom to check on him anyway. "Oh babe," he said with a sigh. He knelt down beside Jeff and rubbed his back. "You get it all out?"

"I think so," Jeff said. He slowly got back up to his feet. "Can you get my tooth brush for me?"

Phil nodded. "Yeah sure." He left the room and returned just a couple of moments later with the toothbrush. "Here you go," he said as he handed it over to Jeff before snatching Daffney's toothpaste and handing that over too.

"Thanks." Jeff quickly began brushing his teeth as thoroughly as he could. The sooner he got the taste of vomit out of his mouth, the better.

Phil watched him as he did this, chewing on his lip ring the entire time. "What?" Jeff asked once he was done.

"What what?" Phil asked innocently. "I didn't say anything."

"Yeah but you want to," Jeff said. He folded his arms over his chest and tapped his foot impatiently. "If you're about to say "I told you so" about the whole drinking thing, could you please just not do it? I am fucking hung over right now and I don't want to hear it."

Phil shook his head. "Just forget it," he said, which translated to Jeff being right about what he was going to say and not wanting to actually admit it. "I need to take a shower."

"Well I do too," Jeff said. He had caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror and saw that he looked like hell, which was just not acceptable. He didn't want anyone else to see him when he looked like such a mess.

Phil looked over at the shower and then grinned at Jeff. "We could always shower together. I mean, we should always try to conserve water when we can."

Jeff smirked and took off his shirt. "Yes," he agreed. "We must do our part to help our environment. Plus showering together saves us time, which is important."

"It's definitely important," Phil said. "Time is something that you can't get back once it's gone."

"Unless you have a time machine of course."

"But time machines aren't real."

"Yeah well, that's not the point!"

Phil just laughed while they finished stripping themselves of them clothes. Once they were in the shower and had the water turned on, it wasn't long before Jeff found himself pinned up against the wall and being kissed within an inch of his life. "Oh I see how it is," he said with a roll of his eyes. "You didn't want to save the environment. You just want to touch me in my naughty places."

"Yeah well, some things are much more important that the damn environment," Phil said as he started planting little kisses all over Jeff's neck and collarbone."

Jeff's giggle turned into a squeak as he felt Phil wrap his hand around the base of his cock and begin stroking him. "Mmmmhhhh," he mumbled happily. "Feels good."

"You think so?" Phil asked as he began kissing his way down Jeff's chest and stomach. "Well I bet you're really going to love this then."

Jeff moaned loudly as Phil's mouth engulfed his cock and began sucking. "Oh fuck," he gasped, grabbing on to the back of Phil's head and getting his fingers tangled in his shoulder length black hair. "Phil…holy shit!" He tried to start thrusting into Phil's warm mouth as Phil just sucked on the head while letting his tongue probe into the slit, but Phil quickly grabbed a hold of his hips and made them stay still as he then deep throated Jeff eagerly. "Oh fuck," Jeff moaned. He rested his head back against the wall, trying to stay somewhat quiet so Daffney and Amy wouldn't be disturbed, but that plan went right out the window when he felt two of Phil's fingers slip inside him.

"Phil!" he cried out as Phil began scissoring his fingers and probing at his prostate. He moved his head from side to side, so desperate for more that he didn't realize how weak his knees were getting. "Fuck me. Please, I need you so bad."

Phil quickly withdrew his fingers and mouth and then got back up to his feet. "You want me baby?" he asked as he moved one of Jeff's legs up and wrapped it around his waist. "Huh? You want me real bad?"

Jeff nodded. "Yes. I want you so fucking bad."

Phil smirked. "Well then, I guess I better give you want then." He lifted Jeff up just enough to slip his hardened member all the way inside of him. They both groaned at the tight fit, but before Jeff was even all the way used to the intrusion, he was rocking his hips against Phil desperately. "Fuck me," he begged, digging his nails into the flesh on Phil's back.

"Ssshhh," Phil said, gently kissing the other teen's throat. Once he had given Jeff a little more time to adjust, he began to thrust in and out, setting a slow but steady pace to start with. Jeff rested his head on Phil's forehead, wishing that Phil didn't always feel the need to be so gentle with him. He wasn't a delicate doll. He wouldn't break if he was treated a little roughly.

_Adam would probably fuck you real hard,_ a voice in the back of his head told him. _He would probably fuck you until you were begging for mercy and then he would probably fuck you just a little bit more._

Jeff's eyes widened. He didn't know where the hell that thought had come from, but it turned him on so much that he thought he was going to cum right there on the spot. "Harder," he begged, scratching at Phil's back desperately. "Please…need you so bad."

Phil indulged him by thrusting faster, but that did nothing to drive Adam out of Jeff's mind. In fact, he started imagining that Adam was the one in the shower with him and was pounding into his body so hard and fast that he was bleeding and begging for more. He knew that it was bad for him to imagine that, but he couldn't help himself. The thought was such a turn on that he had to bite down on Phil's shoulder really hard to avoid screaming Adam's name as he came.

"Fuck!" Phil cried out as he spilled his release deep inside of Jeff. He panted for breath before shaking his head. "That fucking hurt Jeffro."

"Sorry," Jeff said, kissing the bite mark and thinking about the certain blonde that was absolutely refusing to leave his mind. He knew that he was wrong to be thinking about Adam at all, but it was extra wrong for him to be thinking about him like that when he was getting fucked by Phil. But as wrong as it was, he couldn't seem to stop himself…nor did he really want to.

…

"Why did I have to come with you guys?" Adam asked as he followed Chris and Jay into the store. He had been unceremoniously woken up by Chris jumping on him, so he was even more unhappy about getting dragged to the store than he usually was. "Seriously, you two can do this without me."

Jay rolled his eyes. "We've been over this before Adam. If you don't come with us and pick out what food you want, you'll just bitch at us for not figuring out what you wanted and getting you the wrong stuff. And I am just not in the mood to deal with that."

"Plus he wants to make sure you don't sneak over to Daffney's and rape Jeff," Chris added helpfully.

Adam groaned and glared at Jay. "I am not going to rape him! Fuck, a kissing indiscretion does not mean that I am going to rape him!"

"Nobody said anything about you raping him," Jay said defensively. "I just want to watch you so you don't go off and do anything stupid like you usually do."

Adam rolled his eyes. "Nobody fucking asked you to do that Jay. I'm a big boy. If I do something stupid, I'll fucking take care of it myself."

"Oh yes, because you've done such a good job of that in the past," Jay said sarcastically."

Adam shook his head. He was not in the mood to get his past thrown into his face right now. Yes he knew that he was a fuck up of the highest degree but the last thing he needed was his best friend constantly reminding him of that. "Fuck you Jay," he snapped, storming off in the other direction.

"I told you he was going to take it badly," Chris said.

"Yeah well, maybe if you hadn't woken him up by jumping on him, he would have been in a better mood and he would have taken it better!" Jay snapped.

Adam ignored the two of them and went down to the aisle the beer was in. When he got down there, he was surprised to see John standing there, staring off into space. _What in the world…_ Adam thought as he realized that John did not look like himself at all. Normally John was as flamboyant as they came, wearing outfits that displayed his body, which was a real work of art. But today he had on a t-shirt, a pair of jeans that were way too baggy and despite having on a pair of sunglasses that were way too big, Adam could see that he had a gigantic fist shape bruise on the side of his face.

"Mor?" Adam said slowly, his stomach churning at the thought of what the hell could have happened to his ex-boyfriend. Even though his sights were firmly on Jeff, he did still have a soft spot for Mor, so seeing him all beat up was not something he liked.

John flinched at the sound of his name. "Oh. Hey Adam," he said nervously.

"Are you alright?" he asked, wincing as he came even closer to the twitchy man and realizing that the bruise was much worse than he originally thought.

"I'm fine," John lied. He ran his hand through his hair and started backing away. "I um…I got to go. I can't keep Drew waiting."

Adam watched John go, scowling at the mention of Drew's name. This time though, it wasn't out of jealousy. Judging from the way John said that last part, he strongly suspected that Drew was the one who had done the damage to Mor. "Fucking son of a bitch," he muttered.

"Ouch. My feelings. And here I was coming to apologize."

Adam turned around and found Jay and Chris standing behind him. "I wasn't talking about you," he told Jay. "It's McIntyre. I think he's beating the crap out of John."

"What makes you say that?" Jay asked.

"The bruises on John's face," Adam answered. "They're painting a pretty clear picture. And don't say it could be from a fight. John couldn't hurt a fly if he tried."

Jay and Chris exchanged looks. "He's got a point there," Chris pointed out. He looked back at Adam and frowned. "Wait, I thought you were into Jeff now?"

"I am," Adam said with a roll of his eyes. "Just because I don't want John getting the crap beat out of him doesn't mean I'm looking to get him back. I just want McIntyre to keep his fucking hands off of him.

Jay put his hands up. "Okay okay, calm down dude. We'll figure out a way to help John. Let's just get our groceries and get back home. We've only got a few hours till the concert anyway."

Adam almost protested but stopped when he realized that Drew would probably be at the concert too. _I'll just get him then,_ he decided. _And maybe I'll sic James on him. He always liked John after all._ He chuckled at his little plan before grabbing a case of beer and heading to the next aisle. He needed to grab some cookies and he needed to grab them fast. There was going to be hell to pay if he didn't get his daily fix of Oreos.


	9. Chapter 9

Jeff stared at himself in the full length mirror, smoothing down his freshly dyed red hair and making sure his outfit looked okay. It had taken him a couple of hours to get a look that he liked, but now he was finally somewhat satisfied with himself. He had put on a plain black tank top and red and black zebra striped pants that he could never wear at home because Matt and his dad would freak out over how tight they were and how low they sat on his hips. They were so low that he actually had to pull the straps of his thong up to his hip bones because they couldn't fit anywhere that was out of sight.

_But who exactly are you trying to look good for?_ a little voice in his head asked him. _Are you trying to turn on Phil like you're supposed to or are you trying to attract Adam's attention like a little slut?_

Jeff shook his head, trying to get the voice out of his head. He didn't think there was anything wrong with wanting to look sexy. People usually stared at him anyway whether he wanted them to or not, so what was the point in fighting it?

_You're so bad you know,_ the voice said, interrupting his attempts to distract himself. _Thinking about Adam fucking you, wanting his eyes all over you tonight…do you have any idea how wrong that is?_

Jeff turned away from the mirror so he could grab his black studded bracelets and put them on. He really wished the little voice would shut up. He felt bad enough as it was. He knew it was wrong to be thinking of Adam the way he was, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't stop himself…or maybe he didn't _want_ to stop himself. There was something alluring about Adam that he didn't really want to resist. _Bad Jeff,_ he scolded. _Bad bad bad bad…_

A knock on the door interrupted his thoughts. "Come in," he said, deciding that he didn't want his hair down after all and pulling it back into a ponytail.

The door opened and Daffney walked in. She had some sort of white powder all over her face that made her look ten times paler than she already was, which made her Goth make-up stand out even more. The black corset she was wearing was pushing her breasts up to the point where they looked like they were going to pop right out at any moment and the tiny black mini-skirt looked like it really should be a belt instead. "Holy crap," he muttered. "That's a lot more of you than I ever wanted to see--no offense or anything."

Daffney didn't so much as crack a smile. "We need to talk," she announced, shutting the door behind her.

He sat down on the bed and tried not to appear nervous. "Okay," he said, hoping he sounded casual. "What about?"

She folded her arms and looked at him closely. "Are you happy with Phil?" she asked.

"Yeah," he said, already not liking where this conversation was going. He just had a bad feeling about it.

"Are you sure?"

He nodded. "What's this about?" he asked, really hoping she was buying this. He hadn't told Phil this because he didn't want to hurt his feelings, but Daffney kind of scared him. She seemed like the kind of person that would rip your face off if you pissed her off and then laugh about it later.

She shook her head. "You're just like Phil you know."

"I am?"

"Yeah. You're a terrible liar." She leaned forward so she could look him in the eyes. "Look, I know Adam's taken an interest in you and I know it's easy for someone to take an interest right back at him. I mean, he's charming and sexy and he's got that whole bad boy thing going for him."

"I'm not interested in him," Jeff lied, trying to keep his voice from shaking.

"Oh you're not? Then why did I hear you saying his name in your sleep at four in the fucking morning?"

Jeff's face paled. He could tell she wasn't lying about that. _Oh fuck, did Phil hear me? No wait, he couldn't have. He would have said something if he did. He's not the type that's able to keep stuff like that to himself for very long._

"Yeah, so don't feed me any bullshit, alright?" Daffney said with a shake of her head. "I haven't told Phil about this yet because he's obviously nuts about you. You're all he ever talks about when I talk to him." She poked Jeff in the chest, her sharp fingernails leaving little crescent moon shaped marks behind. "Now you listen to me and you listen good: I like Adam as a friend. I really do. But when it comes to romance, he's damaged goods. He's got enough issues to fill all four oceans and both he and the people he gets involved with usually wind up getting hurt in the end. So my advice? Stick with Phil. He's a lot more stable and I won't have to claw your eyes out for hurting him."

Jeff swallowed nervously as he watched Daffney turn around and leave the room. He now felt worse than he did before. "Fuck," he muttered, slipping on his black boots and going into the bathroom to rinse his face off before heading downstairs. Daffney was assuring Amy that her hair and make-up looked just fine and Phil was watching Cooper and Rob get all the instruments and sound equipment loaded into the back of the truck.

"Hey baby," Phil said when he looked up and saw Jeff coming. "You ready to go?"

Jeff nodded while making sure to avoid any and all eye contact with Daffney. She was still soothing Amy's nerves but given the conversation that had just taken place between them, he wanted to keep his mouth shut around her and avoided any more awkwardness.

"Is the car loaded up yet?" Amy asked once it was determined that she looked find.

"I think they just finished up," Phil said with a nod.

"Good. Let's go then."

Jeff grabbed Phil's hand and followed the others out to the car. The ride to the concert venue was too quiet, but Jeff didn't bother to try to break the silence. He just rested his head on Phil's shoulder, wondering what the hell he should do. He didn't want to hurt Phil but there had to be some reason why he was even entertaining the thought of Adam. There had to be something missing, didn't there? Even if he didn't know what it was, it had to be missing. That was the only thing that made sense. This wouldn't even be an issue if there was nothing wrong.

When they got to the concert, they met up with Chris, Jay and Chris's band mates near the stage. The stage hands were getting things set up for the first band and the crowd was getting bigger and bigger by the minute, which actually made it easier for Jeff to cover up the fact that he was actually looking for Adam in the sea of people. If anyone asked, he could just say he was searching for everyone else _but_ Adam. Of course the guilty feelings that knew the truth were trying to eat away from him, but he tried to bury those and just continue to act like there was absolutely nothing wrong.

"You guys nervous?" Jay asked, wrapping his arms around Chris's waist and kissing his neck. "I think Chrissy Poo here is nervous but doesn't have the balls to admit it."

Chris's eye twitched. "Don't call me Chrissy Poo!" he whined. "I hate that fucking nickname and you know it!"

"You let me call you that when we--"

Chris quickly covered Jay's mouth with his hand while Daffney and Amy snickered. "Come on Chris, let him finish that sentence," Cooper said, seemingly ready to openly mock Jericho with this little bit of information.

"Forget it Lawson," Chris snapped. "You're never hearing the end of that sentence."

Jay got his mouth away from Chris's hand and tried to talk again but Chris quickly dragged him away before his pride could be wounded. Rob chuckled and shook his head as they went. "Poor Chrissy Poo," he said in amusement.

"Yeah," Amy agreed. She looked around. "I wonder where the hell the others are."

"I'm sure they're probably here already," Daffney assured her. "They probably just can't find us in this mess."

Cooper's phone went off, causing him to reach into his pocket and pull it out. "Okay, I just got a text from Dad," he said as he texted back. "He says he's sending Mark and Connor our way."

Daffney frowned. "Why isn't he coming?

"I don't know. Let me find out." Cooper sent his text and waited impatiently for an answer that came about two minutes later. "He says he, Randy and Adam have business to take care of…whatever the fuck that means."

Jeff tried to pretend that he didn't care, but on the inside he was looking harder than ever for the man he couldn't push out of his head. _I am so bad…ugh, I don't care. I just need to see him. I'll figure out what the hell I'm going to do afterwards._

…

As soon as Adam had arrived to the concert with Jay and Chris, he had ditched them in favor of seeking out James and telling the mentally unstable man about his suspicion about Drew's domestic violence toward John. Randy happened to be there too and when he heard about it, he wasn't any happier about it than James was.

"Who does that fucker think he is?" Randy asked angrily. He was already looking around for Drew so he could kick his ass. "Seriously, what the fuck is his problem? I'll kill him, I swear!"

James put his hands up. "You aren't doing anything. I'm the one that's going to take care of this." He patted Adam on the shoulder. "You did right by telling me this…now if anyone asks, I was a good boy and I didn't go McIntyre at all. Do you understand me?"

Adam quickly nodded. "Of course," he agreed. What was he supposed to do, argue with that? The answer to that was "no way". Not if he knew what was good for him.

"Good boy." James ruffled his hair before walking away.

Randy shook his head as he and Adam watched him go. "You know, I like him and all that, but he scares me," he confessed.

"Don't worry, you're not the only one," Adam assured him. He started looking around for Jeff, getting kind of antsy when he couldn't see him.

"Looking for Jeff?" Randy guessed.

"No…" Adam lied, trying to look innocent.

Randy shook his head. "Liar." He put his arm over Adam's shoulder. "You know, I really should discourage this. I mean, not only is this not healthy, but it's undoubtedly morally and ethically wrong. You are planning on destroying a seemingly happy and healthy relationship."

Adam pouted. "I'm planning on doing that…I just want to get to know Jeff."

"Yeah yeah, whatever. Call it what you like, it doesn't changed the fact that I shouldn't help you…but I will."

Adam raised his eyebrows. "You will?"

"Uh huh. Either you'll get Jeff and you'll be happy or he'll reject you and I can laugh at your pain. Either way, I win"

Adam rolled his eyes. "That doesn't really make you sound good at all Randy."

"Who cares?" Randy said with a shrug. "Now come on, let's quit wasting time. We've got work to do."


	10. Chapter 10

_Go with an attitude_

_Heart full of royal blood_

_If you wanna rise above_

_Don't wallow in the mud boy_

_This game mentality_

_It will not set you free_

_Is that the life you want_

_Go to the lives you taught_

Jeff bounced along with the song, trying to focus on The Luchagors and not anyone else. A couple of other bands had gone on before them and in that time, Adam and Randy had been innocently getting closer and closer to Jeff and Phil, seemingly unbeknownst to everyone else. But Jeff had a feeling that Phil had either caught on or was catching on, because he had tightened his grip on Jeff and was not just keeping his eye on Amy and the others.

_White boy, white bo_

_yDon't be crazy_

_White boy, white boy_

_Don't be mad_

_White boy, white boy_

_White boy!White boy, white boy_

_Don't_

_Don't you go bad_

_No, no, no, no, no_

_Don't you go bad_

_No, no, no, no_

"Daddy I wants to jump off the stage!" Connor could barely be heard over the music.

"Well you're not going to!" James yelled back. He grabbed on to the back of Connor's shirt and held on to it tightly. "You hear me?"

Connor began to whine loudly. "But Daddy that's not fair!" He started trying harder than ever to get up on stage, which led to Mark also grabbing a hold of him too.

"You need to knock it off," Mark growled. "I mean it."

Connor glared at him before trying to fight both of them off. Jeff started giggling at the struggle going on next to him but the giggle died in his throat when he and Adam made eye contact. His whole body flushed as Adam grinned at him. _Stop it,_ he scolded himself as he quickly forced himself to look back at the stage. _Just stop it._

_Victims in alleyways_

_Baptizing in your filth_

_This path of life you want_

_It just might be your last_

_Cause my reality_

_Retain mentality_

_All together and one for all_

_The clock ticks 'till your downfall_

"Oh great," Phil muttered, shielding Jeff as best as he could as the people around them began making the area right in front of the stage a mosh pit. Jeff started trying to join in on the fun but Phil held them back. "I don't think that's a good idea," Phil said.

Jeff pouted. "Why?"

One of the guys from the mosh pit got pushed back so violently he ended up elbowing Cody really hard on the collarbone. That got Ted riled up and he ended up putting his foot on the guy's ass and kicking him back into the chaos.

"That's why," Phil said wisely.

_White boy, white boy_

_Don't be crazy_

_White boy, white boy_

_Don't be mad_

_White boy, white boy_

_White boy!White boy, white boy_

_Don'tDon't you go bad_

_No, no, no, no, no_

_Don't you go bad_

_No, no, no, no_

It seemed like with each passing lyric, the crowd was getting more and more riled up. Jeff didn't know what everyone's problem was, but what he did know was that more and more people were pushing and shoving each other and he and the others were really starting to get caught in the crossfire.

"Hey, stay the fuck back!" Phil yelled when someone nearly shoved Jeff face first on the ground.

"Well tell your boyfriend to stay out of the way you stupid faggot," the guy yelled back.

Jeff groaned as Phil got right in the guy's face. This was going to end violently. "What the fuck did you just say?" Phil asked angrily.

"I said tell your boyfriend to stay out of the way, you stupid fa--" The guy didn't get to say anymore than that. Phil decked him right in the mouth at that moment, causing a domino effect of violence. One of the guy's friend took a swing at Jeff, but he managed to duck it and knee the guy in the gut. Unfortunately he got hit by people who were getting crazy with the shoving and he almost ended up flat on the ground to be trampled on by anyone going by. But then someone grabbed his arm and pulled him right out of the fray. At first he wasn't paying attention to who it was so he thought it was Phil. But then as soon as he actually looked at the person, his heart skipped a beat and his whole body started to tingle.

"The people in this town are fucking idiots," Adam complained, not stopping until he and Jeff were completely out of sight from the chaos. "That's the problem with letting everyone into these kinds of things. There's always a bunch of idiots who ruin this shit for the rest of us."

Jeff nodded along and looked back towards the brawl. "Phil--"

"Randy said he would help get him out of there," Adam quickly assured him. "And I know James and Mark won't let anything happen to him or the others if they can help it."

Jeff nodded again, knowing that James and Mark were scary and big enough to take care of business when they had to. "But why did you just pull me out?" he asked. "I mean, couldn't you have--" He squeaked when Adam suddenly kissed him, cutting him off before he could finish his question.

When Adam broke the kiss, he grinned sheepishly. "I had to do it," he confessed. "I haven't been able to stop thinking about you since the club."

Jeff touched his lips gently, knowing he should slap Adam and get away from the situation. That would have been the right thing to do. But since he was not exactly known for doing the right thing and since thoughts of Adam had been driving him insane, he grabbed the taller blonde by the shirt and pulled him into another kiss, this one more passionate than the one before. Adam nipped at Jeff's lower lip until he drew blood, and Jeff moaned sluttishly as he felt Adam suck it up.

Finally they had to break apart again, even though Jeff really didn't want to. The feeling was exciting yet terrifying at the same time. He had never felt anything this strong before and the fact that he shouldn't have been feeling that way was just adding fuel to the fire.

"Meet me later?" Adam asked, taking a piece of paper out of his pocket and putting it into Jeff's.

Jeff hesitated, which made Adam shake his head. "I'm not going to make you," he said. "My number is on that paper and if you want to text me and tell me to fuck off, that's fine. I'll fuck off and not bother you again. But if you want to, then meet me at the address later or at least text me and tell me if you can't sneak out."

"Okay," Jeff said, feeling his mind go to war with itself. Part of him was screaming at himself, asking why he was even considering such a thing. But the other part of him was wondering why he shouldn't do it, since something obviously was missing with Phil to make him even entertain the thought of Adam in the first place.

Adam peeked out from their hiding spot and cursed under his breath. "It looks like the fighting's done. We better go check on the others."

Jeff nodded, feeling the beginnings of a headache coming on. What the hell was he going to do? Choosing to meet up with Adam would hurt Phil but choosing not to go was something he really did feel like he would regret. _Shit…decisions decisions decisions._


	11. Chapter 11

Jeff did his best to keep his eyes closed and act like he was asleep. Phil was next to him and it was easy for Jeff to tell just by his breathing that he hadn't drifted all the way off yet. Jeff really wished that he would hurry up and fall asleep so he could go ahead and sneak out to meet up with Adam. He knew what he was planning on doing was wrong. He knew that he was potentially making a huge mistake. But his wreckless personality didn't allow him to care all that much. He wanted Adam so he was going to go. The way he was trying to justify it was that if he got Adam out of his system now, he could go back to being happy with Phil. Maybe it was the wrong way to do it, but it wasn't like the right way ever got him results.

"Schmez," Daffney cooed from the hallway, making kissing noises to draw her cat to her. "Come here Scmez. Come to Mommy."

Hearing the sound of her voice reminded Jeff of the conversation he had overheard earlier. After they had gotten home from the concert, he had decided to go upstairs and take a shower. When he had gotten out, he had headed towards the conversation and had overheard Phil, Daffney and Amy talking about him.

"_Daff, you might be reading too much into this," Amy said, taking the half gallon of chocolate milk out of the fridge and drinking some of it right from the container. "Look, I know Adam doesn't have the best track record when it comes to guys he's interested in. But just because he checked Jeff out does not mean anything has or will happen."_

_Daffney shook her head and hugged Schmez closer to her. "Come on Ames, you know Copeland's been trying. You saw it."_

"_I saw him flirt just a little bit. But here's the news flash baby: he flirts with EVERYONE at least once or twice. He's flirted with the both of us a whole bunch of times and he's GAY."_

_Daffney made a face at her before looking at Phil. "The last three of Adam's relationships started with him stealing the person he was with from someone else. And the way he looks at Jeff--"_

"_Look, I've the seen the looks he's given Jeff," Phil said, who was sitting on the counter eating an apple. "And you know what? Jeff probably does think he's attractive. But there are dozens and dozens of guys that have looked at Jeff the way Adam has and I know he would have gotten with them if it wasn't for me. I can't go apeshit every time someone wants to fuck Jeff because I would go insane within the first half hour of doing that. I trust Jeff…_

Jeff forced himself to stop thinking about the conversation right then and there. It was too late. Phil's words were ringing in his ears, forcing him clench his eyes shut even more tightly in an attempt to block them out. _He trusts you. He trusts you. He trusts you…_ his conscience repeated over and over again, making his chest ache with guilt. For several minutes afterward, he really did think about taking his phone and texting Adam to tell him to forget about the whole thing. But he didn't…God help him, he didn't. As soon as he was sure that Phil was asleep, he slipped out of bed and snuck out the window.

_What am I doing?_ he asked himself as he followed the directions Adam gave him. _Why is this such a good idea? Phil loves me…he really does…._

_But do you really love him?_ another voice responded, scaring Jeff a little bit. _If you really loved him, you wouldn't even have entertained this idea. Face it, something is missing and you're doing this to see if Adam can give it to you._

He bit down on his lower lips, flicking his tongue across the blood he drew as he continued to walk along. He was almost at Adam's place now…there really was no sense in turning around…

When he got to the house, he found Adam sitting out on the porch, drinking the beer that he had in his hand. When he saw Jeff coming, he set the beer aside and got up to his feet. "Hey," he said, shoving his hands into his pockets.

"Hey," Jeff said, his reservations melting away as he looked into Adam's eyes. There was something about the blond that made him feel…well, he wasn't sure yet. He hadn't figured that part out. "Are we alone here?"

Adam nodded. "Chris and Jay are out partying. They won't be back until at least sunrise." He led Jeff into the house, locking the door behind them. "You know…I don't want you to feel like you _have_ to do anything. I mean…I really--"

"Why me?" Jeff asked suddenly.

Adam looked confused. "What?"

"Why me? Why are you pursuing me?"

"Because I want you," Adam replied.

"I have a boyfriend."

"I know."

"Do you care?"

"I think the better question is if _you_ care about that."

Jeff froze, unsure about how to answer that question.

Adam sighed. "Look, maybe this was a stupid idea. I don't want you doing anything you'll reg---" His eyes widened as Jeff grabbed him by the shirt and started kissing him roughly. His surprise didn't last long though, and he began kissing Jeff back even more roughly. Jeff shivered in pleasure as they began to stumble through the living room, enjoying the Adam touched him. He was so rough and demanding; Jeff actually felt wanted for once. Sure he knew Phil loved him; he said it about a dozen times a day. But he never really _felt_ Phil's love and passion for him…not physically anyway. He wanted someone to get rough with him sometimes. He wanted to be dominated…he didn't know why he wanted it. He just did.

Adam placed both hands on Jeff's ass and lifted him up, causing Jeff to wrap his legs around his waist. "Let's go upstairs," he whispered, kissing Jeff's neck. It was obvious that he wanted to bite down on the sensitive flesh, but he couldn't. Phil would see the marks and then they would be fucked.

Jeff nodded, kissing every part of Adam could reach. This was still completely wrong. He knew that he was being unfair to Phil…but he couldn't help himself. Adam's touch itself had gotten him hard and he was now trying to grind his groin up against the older man's stomach, desperate to get out of the constricting confines of his jeans.

"Here we go," Adam said under his breath, getting them into the bedroom. At first Jeff thought that Adam was going to put him on the bed, but he was taken by surprise when he was slammed up against the wall instead. He didn't mind it at all though. He just unwrapped his legs from Adam's waist and allowed himself to be groped roughly, his knees buckling as Adam grabbed his crotch through his jeans and squeezed it roughly. "Fuck," he muttered, helping Adam get rid of their shirts. Shivers ran up and down his spine as Adam began kissing his chest, pulling on his nipples with his teeth.

"So fucking beautiful," Adam said, working on their jeans next. He licked his lips when he saw the leopard print underwear that Jeff was wearing. "Oh my…"

Jeff grinned before sliding down to his knees and helping Adam step out of his boxers. He stared at the erection in front of him, licking his lips at the sight of it. He felt Adam's hand grabbing his hair, and he looked up at him as he very slowly began to circle the head with his tongue. Adam stared down at him lustfully, rocking his hips just a little bit to signal that he wanted entrance into Jeff's mouth. Jeff happily gave it to him, deep throating the length and gagging as it hit the back of his throat. Adam groaned loudly, tightening his grip on Jeff's hair as he continued to bob his head up and down. Adam tasted so good that he didn't want to stop. He just wanted to keep sucking and sucking and sucking…

"Fuck," Adam gasped, thrusting into Jeff's mouth a couple of times. "So fucking good…"

Jeff ran his tongue along the underside of Adam's shaft, letting the barbell of his tongue ring trace the vein that was under there. Adam thrusted into Jeff's mouth again, which made Jeff claw at his thighs, leaving a whole bunch of marks behind. "Enough," Adam finally gasped, not being able to take it anymore. He pulled Jeff away from his cock and pushed him down on the bed.

"I wasn't finished yet," Jeff said, pouting in disappointment.

Adam smirked a little bit. "Maybe another time," he said, removing Jeff's underwear and starting to reach for some lube.

"No," Jeff said immediately, sitting up long enough to pull Adam down on top of him. "No lube. I want it to hurt."

"You do?" Adam said, cocking an eyebrow.

Jeff nodded.

Adam didn't need any more persuading. He quickly put Jeff's legs around him and thrusted in as hard as he could, making Jeff howl in pain. "Too hard?"

Jeff shook his head. That had hurt but the pain felt really good. "Fuck me," he pleaded, tightening his grip on Adam and kissing him desperately. "Please just fuck me hard…"

Adam nodded and kissed Jeff back as he began to pound into his body as hard as he could. Jeff moaned loudly in pleasure, clawing at Adam's back and the sheets like a wild animal. The sensations that were coursing through him were indescribable. Phil had never made him feel this good; hell, he hadn't even thought it was possible to feel this good.

"You like that?" Adam asked, pulling on Jeff's hair as he pounded into him even harder.

"Yes!" Jeff cried out, arching his hips up and thrusting them back against Adam. His prostate was being stabbed so hard and fast that he was beginning to see stars. "Yes oh fuck…" He groaned and grabbed a hold of his cock, stroking it hard and fast because he couldn't take it anymore. He had to cum so badly…

Adam slapped his hand away before grabbing his dick and taking over the stroking duties. Jeff thrust upwards frantically, screaming as he came. Adam grunted loudly, Jeff's orgasm triggering his. He kept thrusting and stroking until they were both milked dry and then he started to pull out so he could lay down next to Jeff.

"Wait," Jeff said, refusing to let Adam go.

Adam stared down at him, brushing his hair away from his face. "What is it?"

Jeff just stared back at Adam for a few minutes before rolling them over so he was sitting on top of Adam. "I…I don't want to be done yet."

Adam blinked in surprise, but then smiled and sat up so he could give Jeff another kiss….


	12. Chapter 12

"_I don't want you leave," Adam said, wrapping his arm around Jeff and hugging him tightly. The perspiration that was covering their bodies was starting to dry, cooling them down significantly. The smell of sex was so strong that they were probably getting drunk off it without even realizing it._

"_I have to though," Jeff insisted, even though he made no effort to actually get up. "I have to get up before Phil wakes up and sees that I'm gone."_

_Adam knew that, but that didn't mean he had to like it. "Can I ask you something?"_

"_Technically you just did," Jeff pointed out with a small smile._

_Adam chuckled slightly before asking the questions that was burning a hole in his brain. "Why?"_

_Jeff's brows furrowed. "Why what?"_

"_Why did you go through with this?" Adam propped himself up on his elbows so he could look directly into Jeff's eyes. "I'm glad that you're here, but I gotta ask what made you come."_

_Jeff bit down on his lower lip, taking a long time to think about that question before answering it. "There's been something missing with Phil for awhile now," he admitted slowly. "And for a long time, I thought it was just about the sex. Phil's good in bed and all, but he's always too sweet and too gentle. And I know I could have asked him to be rougher, but now I've realized that wouldn't have been enough. Being here with you…it made me realize that the spark is just gone with Phil. It was there…but then it went away. " He looked away shamefully. "That sounds so fucking terrible. He's sweet and he's caring and nice…Shannon says he's the perfect boyfriend and he is." He let out a shaky sigh. "Maybe that's why I'm here. I can't handle perfect. I've never been able to. It just reminds me of how much a screw up I am."_

_Adam frowned and moved a stray piece of hair out of Jeff's face. "You're being too hard on yourself. You're not a screw up. Look, you're young. And I'm right in assuming Phil's your first boyfriend?"_

_Jeff nodded. "Him and me are two of the three gay people in Cameron."_

"_So you naturally gravitated to him," Adam concluded. "Look, I'm not going to pretend to know what your relationship with him is like. What I am going to tell you is that you can't kick your own ass for not being happy with someone, even if they're the greatest person in the world. It happens. It doesn't mean that you're a screw up."_

_Jeff shook his head. "Maybe you're right, but you don't know how I am. I am the screw up of my family. Matt…he's perfect in everyone's eyes. He's got the girl, he's got the looks, he's got everything everyone expected me to have, but once they saw how self destructive I am they stopped expecting anything out of me." He chuckled humorlessly and shook his head. "What am I supposed to do? I know I have to go back but what am I supposed to do then?"_

Adam woke up to a loud banging on the door. He was slightly disoriented from being pulled out of the memory of his conversation with Jeff, but he recovered somewhat quickly. "What?" he yelled groggily.

"Jay wants you to get up," Chris said from the other side of the door.

"Tell him to fuck off," Adam replied, grabbing the pillow Jeff had laid on and sniffed it. While normally he interpreted that kind of thing as creepy, he already missed Jeff and he hadn't been gone all that long yet.

The door opened and Chris walked in. "Dude, I can't tell him that," he said, looking horrified by Adam's suggestion. "He'll KILL me." He frowned as he saw what Adam was doing with the pillow. "What the fuck are you doing man?"

"Nothing," Adam said innocently.

Chris didn't looked convinced. "Are you…sniffing that pillow?" He shook his head in disbelief. "And why does it smell like sex in here? Fuck, it's like that song Sex and Candy, only minus the candy."

Adam rolled his eyes before setting the pillow aside and shooing Chris out of the room with his hands. "Can you please just go tell Jay I'm not hungry?" he asked. "Seriously, you two can go without me."

Chris rolled his eyes. "Jay doesn't want to go without you. He already told me you're coming whether you like it or not." He gave Adam a smug smirk as he groaned, taking his leave from the room just a couple of seconds after that. Adam shook his head in exasperation before pulling the blankets up over his head and closing his eyes.

"_Enough about me," Jeff said, glancing at the clock but making no effort to get up and leave. He was risking an awful lot by staying here this long. "What about you?"_

"_What about me?" Adam asked._

"_What's your deal? You've ever been in my position?"_

_Adam shook his head. "No, not really. I always wind up in my position." He chuckled bitterly. "My own friends think I'm a fucking home wrecker." He sighed and rested his forehead against Jeff's shoulder. "I know it's my own fault. I'm not stupid…"_

"_Maybe you like forbidden fruit too much," Jeff said helpfully._

_Adam shook his head. "Not just that…I'm into doomed fruit. Always have been, always will be."_

"Adam wake up!" Jay ordered as he barged into the room. "If I'm not sleeping, you're not sleeping." He yanked the blankets right off of Adam's body and making a face at the nudity he found underneath. "Yuck. Yuck yuck yuck yuck." He slapped Adam on the chest as hard as he could, forcing the slightly older blonde to open his eyes and yelp loudly. "Up and at 'em chump stain!"

"Damn it Jay," Adam grumbled, rubbing his chest and sitting up slowly. "Did you have to hit me? That hurt!"

"Well you didn't get up…" Jay looked around the room before frowning at Adam. "Did you get laid last night?"

Adam almost admitted that he did, but he stopped when he actually started thinking about Jeff. He had felt empty as soon as Jeff had left him and it didn't seem to be going away any time soon. Add on the fact that Jay was going to cause a stink when he found out just who exactly was in his bed last night and it made for a subject he didn't want to talk about. "I'll tell you later," Adam muttered, before getting up and heading to the shower. Hopefully he would be up for that conversation later in the day. And if he wasn't…well, he would just run away from Jay and hope the bastard didn't catch him.


	13. Chapter 13

Adam sighed as he watched everyone else frolic in the pool. He wasn't sure why he had agreed to come along in the first place. He hadn't even wanted to get out of bed today, much less get dragged along to the pool. It had been two weeks since Jeff had gone back home with Phil and Adam had been going nuts that entire time. He felt like a little lovesick puppy and there was nothing he could do to control himself. He thought about Jeff almost constantly, which was noticeably starting to interfere with his day to day life. Why get out of bed when he could fantasize about being with Jeff? Why go out and get a job when he didn't even have Jeff's phone number? Sure the Jeff thoughts were driving him nuts because Jeff wasn't there and he couldn't solve his problem, but he would much rather dwell on them than sit out here in the sun, getting splashed by inconsiderate people who didn't seem to care that he didn't want to be there.

"Cannon ball!" James shouted as he tackled Mark into the pool.

Mickie and Trish (who were trying to tan across the pool from Adam) screamed as they were splashed. "That was cold!" Trish complained loudly.

"How was that even a cannon ball?" Cooper asked nobody in particular. He was trying to keep Connor from dunking him underwater while trying to toss around a small Nerf football with Randy and Cody.

Adam shook his head and put his sunglasses back on. He would have thought that Cooper would have learned a long time ago that there was no use in trying to figure out the logic behind the things James did and said. He had figured out after the first time he had met the guy that you just needed to accept what he did and said without question because the logic usually was weird and only made sense to him.

"Yo," Jay said, slapping Adam on the shoulder before sitting down in the chair next to him. "Why aren't you in the pool?"

"I want to tan," Adam said with a shrug.

"But you hate tanning," Jay pointed out.

_Shit…I forgot he knew about that._ "Uh…well then I just don't feel like getting wet today. The water feels cold." Adam knew that Jay was going to see right through that bullshit excuse, but he had to at least give it a shot.

Jay shook his head and reached over so he could snatch Adam's sunglasses right off of his face. "What's with you lately? You've been acting all weird and shit. Are you suicidal or something? Because I'm here if you need me. I'll talk you through this and-"

"I'm not suicidal Jay," Adam said quickly. "You don't have to worry about that."

Jay sighed in relief. "Good." His expression stayed serious though. "Now what's really wrong?"

Adam sighed. He had not told anyone about what he and Jeff had done, but he might as well at least tell Jay now. Maybe if he talked about with someone he could get some sort of clarity on the whole thing. "I um…I fucked Jeff and now-"

"You fucked Jeff?" Jay groaned, keeping his voice down so everyone else wouldn't overhear him. "Adam are you serious?"

Adam nodded. "Yeah and now I can't stop thinking about him. I've tried but I can't. I want to see him again."

Jay sighed in exasperation. "Oh Jesus…so you fucked a minor who's in a relationship and now you want to do it again? Can't you just go back to Mor or something? Now that Drew's missing he's available."

Adam shook his head. Drew's disappearance was probably the result of James doing something to him, but that was an elephant in the room that none of them were ready to address. "I don't want Mor. I want Jeff. We have a connection."

"A connection huh?"

"Yeah." Adam pouted and folded his arms over his chest. "Don't give me that look. This isn't what you think."

"Isn't that what you always say?" Jay reminded him.

Adam shrugged. He did say that a lot but this time he really meant it. He hadn't felt like this big of a lovesick puppy since the very first time he had fallen in love. That had to mean something.

Jay rubbed the back of his neck, taking his time to think about what to say next. "Well damn," he finally said. "I would tell you to stop and think about what you were doing but you've already fucked him, so we're past that warning." He slowly stood up and handed Adam his sunglasses back. "Just…shit, I don't know. Give me awhile so I can think of something wise to say, alright?"

"Okay," Adam agreed. He watched as Jay started towards the snack bar and suddenly he got a wild hair up his ass. Making sure to keep very quiet, he stood up and crept over to Jay, waiting until he was right behind him before pushing him into the pool. "Gotcha!" he shouted triumphantly.

Jay coughed and spluttered as he hit the water. "Adam you asshole!" he yelled. "I'm going to get you for this!"

"You'll have to catch me first!" Adam laughed maniacally before taking off running. There was no way he was going to let Jay catch him. He did not want to get an atomic wedgie in retaliation. That shit hurt like hell.

…

"How's this?" Eve asked as she twirled around.

Jeff tried to force his mind to focus as he nodded his approval. He was out helping Eve dress shop while Phil was helping Matt with the tuxedo shopping. The wedding was coming up fast and Jeff knew he had to get his mind together so he could focus on helping. Of course, that was easier said than done.

Eve's smile faltered noticeably. "If you don't like it you can just say so. I can get something else."

Jeff quickly shook his head. "You look gorgeous. This one is perfect." And it was. It was a strapless white gown that just fit her body perfectly. "Matt will love it."

"You mean it?" Eve looked at herself in the mirror to make sure."

"Yeah."

"Okay. I'll get it then."

"Awesome." Jeff watched Eve head back into the dressing room and sighed under his breath, knowing that now they were done shopping they were supposed to be meeting up with Phil and Matt for lunch. And while that was usually stressful because he and Phil had to make sure they didn't give away any signs that they were more than friends, today it would be stressful because he and Phil had been fighting like crazy lately. Ever since they had come back from their trip, their whole relationship had been off. Phil blew up over the stupidest things and Jeff spent half his time thinking about Adam anyway, so that made things ten times worse.

_He probably knows,_ a voice in the back of his head told him. _He probably knows what you did with Adam. _

Jeff shook his head vehemently. There was no way Phil could know. He hadn't woken up when Jeff had snuck back in the house that night. He hadn't said anything at all about Adam and it had been two weeks-

_That's because he's too scared to even bring the subject up_, the little voice told him. _Plus he probably doesn't know it for a fact. He just suspects it. _

Jeff sighed and ran his hand through his hair. He knew that he needed to come clean. That would be the right thing to do. But every time he even thought about actually doing it, he chickened out. As uncomfortable as things were between them, Jeff didn't want to leave Phil. Not yet. It wasn't like Adam was around to pick up the pieces or anything. He would be all alone if he and Phil split up, which was something he didn't handle well.

"Fuck," he said under his breath. Thoughts about Adam were drifting into his brain again. He didn't even try to stop them this time. That had proven useless time and time again. Adam was like a drug to him, and there was a deep sense of longing on his part because he couldn't just leave and go see Adam again.

He licked his bottom lip and looked out the window and saw Matt and Phil standing outside waiting for them. He waved and smiled, but he didn't really mean it. He was just being nice because he couldn't express how alone he felt. Matt had never understood him and never would because deep down, he was just like their dad. As for Phil…well at that moment Jeff could really REALLY feel the growing distance between them. It was so obvious and it hurt because he knew it was his fault.

_But would you do it again if you had the chance?_ that annoying little voice asked him. _If you had to go back and redo that night, would you go back and sleep with Adam like you did the first time around?_

"Hey, you ready?" Eve asked, handing her dress off to the woman who was going to go wrap it up and stuff.

Jeff nodded, although he wasn't just answering her question. He was answering that little voice's question while he was at it. "Yeah. Definitely."


	14. Chapter 14

Adam leaned back in his chair, drinking his beer and staring at the basketball game with complete disinterest. Jay was at work and Chris was out doing something on his band. He knew that he was supposed to be out hunting for a job but he couldn't bring himself to even attempt to get up. _I'll just job hunt tomorrow,_ he vowed, even though he knew that the odds of him actually doing that then were slim to none. He was just lazy like that.

"Fuck this," he muttered under his breath, grabbing the remote and changing the channel. He had never really liked basketball anyway. "There has to be something better on." He began flipping through the channels, cursing when the doorbell rang and interrupted him. "I don't want any!" he yelled, gulping down the rest of his beer and shaking his head. "So go away!"

_Ding dong._

"I said I don't want any!"

_Ding dong. Ding dong. Ding dong ding dong ding dong._

"Okay, that's it." Adam set his beer bottle down on the coffee table and got up, fully intending on kicking some serious ass when he got to the front door. But then he found that it was just Randy and the urge reluctantly went away. "What are you doing here man?" he asked as he let Randy in.

"I came to see you," Randy replied. "Jay says I need to snap you out of this Jeff funk."

Adam sighed and shook his head. "Jay actually told you to do that?"

"Yeah. He's a bossy little shit like that." Randy looked at Adam for a quite awhile before shaking his head in exasperation. "You look like shit man."

"Oh thanks. That makes me feel wonderful," Adam said sarcastically. He ran his hand through his hair and shook his head. "Look man, you don't have to babysit me just because Jay told you to. I'm perfectly fine here on my own."

"Oh really? So perfectly fine consists of you moping over a kid for two weeks?" Randy shook his head, seemingly amused by the situation. "If you're so hung up over him why don't you just go see him?"

Adam blinked, actually taken aback that someone had said that idea out loud. "I can't," he said hesitantly.

"Why not?"

"…I don't know…."

Randy shook his head in exasperation. "Good God, this is why you always need me around." He wrapped his arm around Adam's shoulders and gave him a little shake. "You're completely retarded without me."

"I'm not-"

"Just shut up and listen Copeland. You can do one of three things here. Option one: sit here and mope like you have been doing. It's a bitch move but you've seemed to have perfected it lately."

Adam pouted his lips. "Have not," he mumbled unhappily.

Randy ignored him and kept on talking. "Option two is to get over Jeff and find someone else. John's been asking for you since Drew has disappeared and there's a whole bunch of guys who would love to-"

"I don't those guys though," Adam said. He didn't even know who they were but he was certain that he didn't want them.

Randy smirked. "Then option three is our only course. Go to Jeff. Get him back. If he means that much to you, fight for him."

Adam took in Randy's words, realizing that Orton was completely right. He wanted Jeff so why not go try to get him? It was definitely worth a shot. "You're right. You're absolutely right." He grabbed Randy's chin and planted a big old kiss on his cheek. "Thanks man."

Randy rolled his eyes and shoved him away playfully. "Don't give me your germs you dildo. Just get your shoes on and come on. I'll buy you your plane ticket."

Adam grinned and took off running for his shoes, beyond happy that Randy had offered to pay since he was completely broke. _Daffney is going to kill me for this…Phil might too…aw well, at least it'll be worth it._

…

"Fuck, I look so stupid," Jeff complained as he studied himself in the mirror. He had put on the suit he was supposed to be wearing to Matt and Eve's wedding and he couldn't stand the sight of himself. He thought he looked ridiculous. "Why can't Matt and Eve just go to Vegas and elope? It would save us a whole bunch of time and trouble."

Phil rolled his eyes and snorted. "You're being a big baby. Just because you don't want to dress up doesn't mean Matt and Eve should put their dream wedding on the backburner just to cater to you."

Jeff pouted and smoothed down his now totally blonde hair. Phil had come over about a half hour ago and the mood had been beyond tense since the moment of his arrival. "I wasn't being serious. You don't have to take my head off right now."

Phil just grunted and buried himself deeper into his comic book. Jeff watched him for a second before shaking his head and changing back into his regular clothes. There had to be something that could be done to break this terrible mood between the two of them. "You want to go to Shannon's or something?" he asked as he grabbed a rubber band from off his desk and pulled his hair back into a ponytail.

"That depends," Phil replied. "Are you going to fuck anyone when I'm not looking?"

Jeff almost fell over at those words. "What?" he said in disbelief, his jaw actually dropping as far as it could go.

Phil even looked shocked that he had said that at first but then he got over it relatively quickly. "You heard what I said." He threw down his comic and got off the bed. "I can't do this anymore. I can't fucking lie to myself. You fucked Adam."

Jeff gulped. He knew this conversation had to happen eventually but having it come from a sudden outburst like this had thrown him completely off guard. "Phil let me-"

"Let you what? Explain?" Phil folded his arms over his chest. "Okay fine. Explain to me why you did it."

Jeff opened his mouth to speak but no words came out. What the hell was he going to say? "Um…uh…because."

"Because?" Phil looked ready to punch him. "That's all you can say to me? Are you fucking kidding me?"

"What do you want me to say?" Jeff asked.

"I want you to fucking be honest with me!" Phil growled, making Jeff wince. Gil, Matt and Eve were downstairs and the last thing Jeff needed was for them to overhear this conversation. "Not only have I fucking given you everything that I can give, but I fucking defended you when Daffney warned me that Adam was looking to get in your pants. I fucking trusted you and you fucking threw that away for some guy that has a history of fucking people over."

"You don't know that," Jeff said, despite the fact that defending Adam was probably the last thing he should have been doing at the moment.

Phil snorted loudly. "Daffney already let me in on his past. And you know what? I fucking told her that didn't matter. I made the mistake of trusting you to not fucking betray me."

Jeff looked down at his feet. He had never seen Phil so hurt and pissed before. He felt horrible about it but he didn't know what to say or do to make it better. It wasn't like he could take it back. "So where do we go from here?" he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

"Well you still haven't given me a fucking reason," Phil pointed out. "So why don't you fucking start there?"

Jeff shrugged and shuffled his feet around. "It just happened, okay?"

Phil stared at him for a long moment, his eyes narrowing and his face twisting into a look of anger. "You're so full of shit." He grabbed his jacket and started to storm out of the room.

"Phil wait," Jeff pleaded, grabbing on to his boyfriend's arm in an attempt to stop him.

"_Don't touch me!_" Phil snarled, yanking himself free from Jeff's grip and storming out of the room. Jeff listened to him stomp downstairs and slam the front door shut behind him before covering his face with his hands and shaking his head. He felt so fucking horrible now. He hadn't meant for Phil to get hurt like that. He really hadn't.

"Jeff?" Matt called out, coming upstairs and letting himself into the room uninvited. "What's the matter with Phil? He just stormed out and-" he paused as he watched Jeff sink down on to the floor. "What happened? What's the matter?"

Jeff shook his head, barely even hearing his brother talk. Even as the guilt about hurting Phil was washing over him, he was realizing that he still wouldn't take back what he did with Adam. He would actually do it all over again if he had the chance.

_I'm so fucked up…_


	15. Chapter 15

"Holy crap, this place doesn't even have two hundred people!" Adam exclaimed as he and Randy entered Cameron. He had never been in a town so small in his entire life. He hadn't even _known_ that they made towns this small. "This place is the fucking sticks!" He looked at Randy, who was driving. "Did you know they made places this small?"

"Yeah," Randy replied. He looked like he was amused by Adam's shock and surprise. "I've never actually been to a place this small before but I knew that they existed." He looked around at their surroundings, shaking his head and letting out a long sigh. "I could never live in a place like this. It would drive me absolutely insane."

Adam nodded in agreement. He had always lived in at least relatively big cities, so how Jeff could stand growing up in a place like this was beyond him. "You know, I'm not even sure where exactly Jeff lives," he pointed out. That thought had just popped into his head and it was obviously going to be a problem if he didn't come up with some sort of solution for it.

"Yeah well, how hard could it be to find him?" Randy asked. "I mean look at this place!"

"True…"

"Look Adam, just chill out, alright? We're going to find him and you two can have your big old sex filled reunion."

Adam smirked. "And you're just dying to jack off to the thought, aren't you Orton?"

"Ha! You wish."

"I don't actually. That would just be a violation of the friend code."

"There's a friend code?" Randy asked.

"Well if there's not, there should be." Adam ran his hand through his hair and stared out the window. "Now drive faster. You're wasting my valuable Jeff time."

Randy rolled his eyes and shook his head. "You're such a bossy pants, you know that?"

"Yeah but you love me for it."

"Nah, I just let you believe that." Randy grinned as Adam pouted and eventually he had to laugh. "I'm kidding Copeland. You know I love you."

"You better. I'll kick your ass if you don't." Adam laughed at the look on Randy's face before returning his concentration on trying to find Jeff. He was getting more and more anxious by the second. All of his thoughts for the past couple of weeks had involved Jeff in some way and now he was finally here and now he could only hope that Jeff was thinking about him too. He had no idea what he would do if Jeff didn't want anything to do with him anymore. _It's not going to come to that. It can't come to that. It just can't._

…

Jeff sighed as he walked down the empty road. He didn't know what to do or where to go. He couldn't tell Matt or Eve what was really wrong because that would involve admitting that he was gay, which was a topic of conversation that he didn't want to get into at all. Eve probably would be somewhat accepting, but Matt was too much like his dad and pretty much everyone else in Cameron to have that revelation go well. He had thought about going to Shannon but he had decided against it because he was afraid to admit to him that he had cheated on Phil. Shannon's old boyfriend Jesse Neal had cheated on him a couple years back and Shannon had made it very clear since then that he thought cheaters were no good pieces of shit. He knew Phil would probably tell Shannon sooner rather than later, which just made him that much more reluctant to face his friend. He didn't want Shannon to be mad at him. As badly as he knew he had fucked up, he couldn't bear to have his best friend to hate him. _Maybe I should talk to him. He might be pissed but if I tell him my side of the story maybe he won't be as mad._

Jeff reached into his pocket and started to take out his phone, but then he stopped. As much as he wanted to do so, there was really no justifying what he had done. "Fuck." He let go of his phone and took his hand out of his pocket before he began walking again. Part of him was just tempted to walk right out of Cameron and keep going until he couldn't walk anymore. Anywhere had to be better than this place.

As he was walking, he saw a car coming towards him on the gravel road. It wasn't a car he immediately recognized, but he was so distracted that he just moved out of the way and looked down at his feet, not bothering to look back up until he heard a familiar voice.

"Jeff!"

Jeff looked up and his jaw dropped. "Adam?" He was so shocked to see the blonde that he barely even noticed that it was Randy who was driving the car. "What are you doing here?"

Adam got out of the car and walked around it so he could stand face to face with Jeff. "I had to see you," he confessed. "Jeff, I can't stop thinking about you. These past two weeks, all I've wanted to do was see you. I know you're with Phil but I don't care. I want you and-"

Jeff got over his shock and grabbed Adam by the shirt so he could pull him into a hard kiss. Adam was shocked at first, but he quickly got over it and started kissing Jeff back, not stopping until they heard Randy laughing at them. "What's so funny?" he asked as he broke the kiss, his arms staying around Jeff so he could hang on to him tightly.

"You two are just too cute," Randy replied. He reached over into his glove box and pulled out his sunglasses. "I'm gonna go somewhere though so you can be alone. You guys cool with that or am I gonna have to haul your asses somewhere?"

"I know a place we could walk to," Jeff whispered in Adam's ear. "It's a lot more private than the middle of this road." He couldn't lie and say that he hadn't missed Adam and didn't want to be alone with him. He wanted that more than anything else he could think about at the moment. All thoughts of Phil and Shannon and his family were gone from his mind, and all he could do was think about what he and Adam could do once they were alone.

"Sounds good to me," Adam said. He looked back at Randy. "I'll text you later, okay?"

"Yeah sure, whatever you say." Randy put on his sunglasses. "Have fun boys."

"Oh we will," Jeff assured him. "We definitely will."

…

"Ow! Jeff, something just bit me!"

Jeff giggled as he continued to lead Adam along. They were walking through the woods and Adam was showing just how big of a city slicker he really was. "It was probably just a mosquito," he assured him.

"But what if it wasn't? What if it was a tick? What if it just gave my Lyme Disease and I'm about to die?" Adam shuddered and grabbed Jeff's arm so he could cling to it. "I don't want to die Jeff. I'll be much less pretty as a corpse."

"You're not going to die Adam. Trust me, it was probably a mosquito." Jeff looked back at Adam and winked. "But if you did die, you would be the hottest corpse ever."

Adam gave Jeff a weird look, although a cocky smirk was trying to creep over his lips. "You are so sick and demented," he declared.

Jeff just laughed at the accusation and got Adam to the small lake that he always came to for late night swims. "Ta da! We're here!" He slipped his arm out of Adam's grasp and began taking off his clothes. "Come on. I want to go skinny dipping."

Adam (who had been eyeing the lake like he had been expecting something to come crawling out of it at any moment ) was all over that idea. "You sure we won't get caught?" he asked as he began to strip.

"I'm pretty sure. The few people who know about this spot don't come out here until it's actually summer, so we should be good. He slipped out of his cheetah print briefs and then ran straight into the water with Adam right on his heels.

"Holy shit that's cold!" Adam yelped after they totally submerged themselves in the water. They had almost to the center of the lake, treading water so that their heads wouldn't go under again.

Jeff nodded in agreement. "We should m-make ourselves warm, don't you think?"

Adam grinned as best as he could while his teeth were chattering. "I like where this is going…"

Jeff grinned back at him before grabbing on to the back of his neck and wrapping his legs around his waist. He reached down with one of his hands and began stroking Adam's manhood, managing to get it hard despite the cold water. He felt Adam's fingers probing for his asshole but he swatted them away so he could impale himself on Adam's length. "Oh fuck," he groaned, squeezing his eyes shut as a sharp pain shot up through his back.

"Oh God," Adam groaned. He licked his lips and shook his head. "Jeff-"

Jeff took several deep breaths and allowed himself to just barely get adjusted to Adam's size before he began to move, loving the fact that he was setting the pace. Adam couldn't really do much because he was treading water to keep the both of them from going under, but it seemed like he was enjoying everything Jeff was giving him.

"Oh fuck yeah baby," Adam groaned, nipping at Jeff's lower lip and making him moan needily. "Ride my cock. God you look so fucking hot."

Jeff moaned and began moving even faster, needing Adam even more than ever now that he had him. "So good," he murmured. "So fucking good…"

"What's good baby?" Adam asked. "Huh? Tell me."

"Your cock," Jeff answered, going even faster once he managed to stab his own prostate. "So big…tearing me up…" He threw his head back and moaned when he felt Adam's hand start to stroke his cock. "Yes! Fuck…oh fuck Adam!"

"Cum with me," Adam whispered, thrusting forwards as best as he could in his position. "Cum with me now."

Jeff felt Adam's thumb swipe over his cockhead, which was all it took for him to lose it and spill his release at the same time Adam did. He threw his head back and moaned sweetly, loving the sensations that were going through him at the moment.

"Oh fuck," Adam groaned, placing little kisses all over Jeff's neck. "Jeff…oh Jeff."

Jeff grinned and looked at Adam, almost saying something but then deciding that he didn't need words. He simply cupped Adam's face in his hands and kissed him, letting that speak louder than any words in an language.


	16. Chapter 16

"Are you sure that this is a good idea?" Adam asked as he looked around Jeff's room. After they had gotten done at the lake, they had snuck into Jeff's room through the window so they could get in without having to pass anyone in Gil's family. Adam had already called Randy and had told him he was staying with Jeff for awhile. Randy had tried to get a specific amount of time from him, but Adam honestly couldn't give him a straight answer. It wasn't like he had a job or any other commitments waiting for him at home. He was going to stay with Jeff for as long as Jeff wanted it (and for as long as they could risk having him up there without getting caught).

"Probably not," Jeff admitted. "But I don't care." He giggled as he made sure to lock his door and put a chair under the doorknob so nobody could come in uninvited. "I want you up here. It feels sort of naughty."

Adam grinned and cocked his eyebrows. "Naughty huh?" He walked over to Jeff and kissed him softly. "I think I'm going to like being your naughty little secret."

"Good." Jeff kissed him back before casting a nervous look at the door. "We shouldn't-"

"Of course not," Adam said with a nod. "Not while everyone's awake." He looked at the bed. "We snuggles?"

"We snuggles," Jeff said with a nod. He grabbed Adam by the hand and guided him over to the bed. "I likes to snuggles."

"Me too." Adam laid down first and then pulled Jeff into his embrace. "I'm glad we have that in common." He held Jeff in his arms and they just laid there for awhile, not needing to say anything. Jay had always said it was a good sign if you could just sit silently with someone and be totally comfortable with it. Adam had always wondered just what the hell his friend was talking about because neither Jay nor Chris could ever shut up to allow a comfortable silence to happen. But now that he was here, he finally understood Jay's words. This was nice. Very very nice.

"Phil knows," Jeff finally said.

Adam raised his eyebrows. "You told him?"

Jeff shook his head. "He just knew. He's probably known since that night but he didn't want to admit it."

"So are you guys broken up or what?"

"Honestly? I'm not sure. That wasn't really made clear. I mean I know he's not going to ever trust me again so what's the point in trying to fix it? Besides…you're here with me…and it feels right. You feel right."

Adam smiled as Jeff rested his head against his chest. "I feel right? Wow, nobody's ever told me that before."

"Well good. Because then you might be with them instead of me."

"And we couldn't have that."

"No," Jeff agreed. "We definitely couldn't."

…

During the next few days, Jeff stayed in his room with Adam as much as possible. He had to go to school and eat meals with the family and that kind of stuff, but otherwise he was up in his room with Adam. Adam himself got to sneak out of the room when Jeff was at school, Matt was at work and Gil was out in his tobacco fields, just venturing out long enough for food and quick showers. Then, after everyone went to bed, they snuck out together and went back to the lake, where they would have sex until they were completely exhausted. Jeff knew his school work was suffering even more because he was distracted but he honestly didn't care. He was with Adam and that was what mattered to him.

"So what do you want to do after you graduate?" Adam asked one night when they were laying in bed together. The door was locked like usual and they were whispering as quietly as possible so that they wouldn't wake anyone else up.

"I don't know," Jeff confessed. "Phil and I had planned on moving to Raleigh and getting a place of our own but that's not going to happen now. We're avoiding each other now."

Adam gently stroked Jeff's hair and gave him a hopeful look. "What if you moved in with me?"

Jeff was so surprised by that that he sat straight up and looked at Adam in shock. "What?"

Adam faltered a little bit at Jeff's tone. "Well I was just thinking…since I love you and you love me…I mean you don't have to if you don't want to but-"

"I want to," Jeff said suddenly. He didn't even put much thought into the whole thing. He may had been taken by surprise first, but now he was all for it. Any chance to be with Adam was one he was going to take. "Let's go now."

Adam blinked and then smiled thinly. "You probably should finish school first."

Jeff pouted. "I don't wanna though. I want to now."

"I know but believe me, you should at least get your diploma. Believe me, it's hard enough as it is to get by without any kind of college degree. I don't want you running around without a high school diploma."

Jeff sighed and laid back down. He knew Adam was right but that didn't mean he had to be completely happy about it. He looked over at the picture of his mother that was on his bedside table. He wondered what she would think of Adam. He hoped that if she were still alive, she would like him. He knew that his dad would disapprove and Matt wouldn't like him because he would view him as "irresponsible" and all that shit, but their opinions didn't really mean that much to Jeff. He knew that one way or another, he was always going to disappoint them anyway. His mother though…that was something else entirely.

Adam wrapped his arm around Jeff and hugged him tightly. "I think she would be happy as long as your happy," he said gently. "From what you told me, she seems like that type of person."

Jeff smiled softly. "I know it's just hard you know…not knowing for sure how she would react and knowing I can never find out."

Adam nodded and hugged Jeff even more tightly. Jeff took comfort in the embrace and drifted off to sleep, not waking up until he was already a half hour late for school.

…

"Something is going on with Jeff."

Matt looked up from his newspaper to stare at his father. "Jeff's an artist Dad. There's always something going on with him." He was joking but Gil wasn't laughing. He looked serious.

"Food is being stolen," Gil said as he took a drink of his black coffee. "And I think he's sneaking out."

"So Jeff's a sneaky little pig." Matt just shrugged. "Dad come on, he's a teenager. They get hungry and restless."

"Sometimes I think I hear him talking to someone at night. And I don't mean himself because there are times where I swear hear another voice." Gil took another drink of his coffee. "I think he's got someone in his room."

Matt raised his eyebrows. "Like a girl?"

"I don't know. But something is going on in my house. I can feel it in my bones."

Matt thought his dad was being paranoid but that wasn't something he was about to dare say to his face. He didn't want a trip to the wood shed. "Look, whatever it is, why don't you let me find out what it is? If Jeff's going to get pissed for someone snooping into his business, he should be pissed at me. You two don't need to be fighting."

Gil raised his eyebrows at that. "Oh really now? You think so."

"Yeah, I do."

"Well alright then. But I want answers sooner rather than later, you understand me?"

"Yes sir."

…

"Jeff! Jeff! Damn it Jeff, get over here!"

Jeff turned around and saw that Shannon was approaching him. "Oh hi Shanny," he said. He adjusted his bag on his shoulder and winced at the look on his friend's face. "What's up?"

"What's up?" Shannon repeated incredulously. "You've been avoiding me! I call and text you but you don't reply to anything? What's up with that?"

"Well um…I've been busy."

Shannon shook his head. "Busy huh…Phil told me what happened between you two. How could you do that to him?"

Jeff shrugged and looked down at his feet. "I dunno."

"What do you mean you don't know? Jeff that's not cool man! Phil really loved you and this is what you do to him?"

"I didn't set out to hurt him, okay? I just…look, why are we talking about this? That's between me and Phil."

Shannon glared at him. "Hey, don't you fucking pull that shit with me dude. You and Phil are my friends and he's been at my house every day, completely fucking heartbroken over this shit and you don't even have the courtesy to even act least a little bit sorry."

"Shanny-"

"No, don't justify yourself to me. I don't want to hear it."

"Then why are you talking to me?"

"Because as your friend, it is my job to tell you when you're an asshole. And guess what? You're an asshole!"

The bell rang, putting an end to the conversation. Jeff quickly took off, not wanting to get ripped a new one by his best friend anymore. He didn't even think about going to his next class. He just ran all the way home, going in the front door and finding a note from Matt that said he was going to be working late tonight and their dad would be at Shirley's so he was going to have to fend for himself when it came to dinner. Instantly his bad mood disappeared and he ran upstairs so he and Adam could take advantage of the empty house. That would make him feel much much better right now.

…

"This feels wrong," Eve declared as she watched Matt climb up the side of the house. He had filled her in on the plan he had concocted to make Jeff believe he was going to be all alone until lat tonight and she did not approve of it. "You don't even know if he's doing anything wrong. This is so not cool."

"Well what do you want me to do babe?" Matt asked. He looked back down at her and shook his head. "Dad is convinced that something is going on and it's not like I can just ask Jeff about it. If there is something going on, he'll get pissy and try even harder to hide it. And if there's nothing going on, he'll get mad at being accused and scream at me."

"But if he finds out what you're doing now, he's going to get pissed anyway."

"So really, I'm just fucked no matter what I do," Matt concluded. "Therefore, I should just keep doing this because I'm up here anyway."

Eve sighed loudly and shook her head. "Men…you're all retarded."

Matt chuckled and finished climbing, very carefully peeking in through the window. What he saw shocked him down to his very core. Jeff was straddling an older blonde man and was riding him for everything he was worth. Matt was so shocked that he lost his balance that he lost his grip and fell down into the bushes, making Eve gasp and run to his aid.

"Baby are you okay? Are you okay?"

Matt groaned and shook his head. He was trying to deny what he had just seen but he couldn't. The image was burned into his brain.

"Matt!" Eve exclaimed. "Say something!"

Matt swallowed heavily and shook his head. There was only one thing he could say.

"Dad is going to be so pissed."


	17. Chapter 17

Jeff smiled as Adam's fingers ran up and down his arm. They were laying naked on his bed, not even bothering to put the covers over them. The sweat was drying on both of their bodies and the smell of their sex was still lingering in the air. "I'm sleepy," Jeff said as he rested his head against Adam's shoulder.

"So close your eyes," Adam replied. He brushed Jeff's hair back before kissing the top of his head. "I don't mind if you sleep."

Jeff shook his head. "I don't want to sleep though. I want to stay up with you." He tilted his head up and kissed Adam's neck gently. "I want to stay up with you forever and ever."

Adam grinned at that. "Forever and ever huh? That's an awfully long time."

"Yeah but-" Jeff was cut off by a knock on the door. "Who is it?" he asked, trying to hide his exasperation.

"Jeffrey Nero, you open this door right now!"

Jeff's eyes almost popped out of his head and his heart skipped about four or five beats. "Daddy?" _Oh god, what is he doing here? He's not supposed to be back yet!_ He looked at Adam, who looked just as panicked as he did.

Gil knocked on the door again, doing it a lot harder this time. "Jeff I mean it! You open this door right now or else!"

"Hold on a minute! I'm um…changing!" Jeff jumped out of the bed and quickly threw on his pajamas. Adam also got out of bed but he only put on his boxers before scooping up the rest of his clothes and taking them with him when he went to go hide in the closet. Jeff made sure he was completely hidden and situated before opening the door just enough to poke his head out of it. "What's the matter Daddy?" he asked innocently.

Gil was not buying his act for a second. "Where is he?"

Jeff's heart skipped another couple of beats. "Where is who?"

"The boy Matt saw you with earlier. Who is he, where is he-"

"Daddy I don't know what you're talking about!" Jeff was playing dumb because he didn't know what else to do. Internally he was panicking like hell. How could Matt have seen him with Adam? Matt had left a note saying that he was going to be working late. Did he lie? Did he really fucking lie just to spy on him? The thought made him absolutely furious. How could Matt do something like that to him? What the hell was his problem?

Gil's eyes narrowed and he shook his head very slowly. Chills actually went up Jeff's spine because the look he was getting was so scary. "Jeff let me in," he ordered.

Jeff quickly shook his head. "No." He had never refused his father of anything before in his life and as he suspected, it did not go over well. He tried to close the door but Gil pushed it back open with his shoulder and came into his room completely uninvited. "Dad stop it!" Jeff yelled as Gil began searching all over the place. "You can't do this!"

Gil ignored him and kept on searching, eventually heading to the closet. Jeff tried to prevent him from getting in but Gil physically moved him out of the way so he could open the door and find Adam hiding in there. Jeff whimpered and shrank back at the way the blood drained out of Gil's face. _Oh fuck. Oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck…_

Gil continued to stare at Adam for a very very VERY long time before turning to Jeff and shaking his head. "You two. Downstairs. Right now."

Jeff gulped, his heart and stomach somewhere down on the floor. He and Adam were so beyond dead that it wasn't even funny.

…

Fifteen minutes went by and it was the most uncomfortable scene that anyone in the room had ever been a part of. Jeff and Adam were sitting on the couch, looking down at their laps, completely and totally busted. Adam wasn't sure what to do or say at the moment. He had just gotten busted hiding out in an underage teenager's room by said teenager's father. What the hell could he say? There wasn't really a way to justify his situation. As it was, he felt like he was just going to be lucky to not get shot in the face and buried in the backyard.

Jeff was chewing on his lower lips so hard that he was drawing blood, but he didn't even give a shit at the moment. He was so fucking busted. Not only was the fact that he was gay totally exposed, but Matt had seen him and Adam having sex and Gil had caught Adam hiding out in his room. The shit was hitting the fan and he didn't know which way to turn. Matt was sitting in the chair, looking like he was having second thoughts about running off and tattling to Gil. Eve was standing in the corner, staying out of this as much as possible. Gil was pacing back and forth in front of Jeff and Adam, his lips pressed together in a thin hard line.

"So um…Jeff are you gay or bisexual?" Matt finally asked.

"Gay," Jeff replied, giving Matt an angry glare as he did so. This was all Matt's fault. If he had just minded his own business, this predicament wouldn't exist. Jeff and Adam could have continued with secretly fucking each other and making plans about where they wanted to go after Jeff graduated.

"Are you sure you're gay?" Gil asked, making Jeff scowl and Adam stiffen uncomfortably. "I mean, have you tried not to be?"

"Why would I do that?" Jeff snapped angrily.

"Well I'm just saying that how do you know you're really gay if you hadn't tried being with girls?" At first Jeff thought his father had to be joking but then he quickly realized that he wasn't. That pissed him off even more than he was before.

"I don't have to try to have sex with a girl to know that I'm gay," Jeff said, his tone getting quite nasty because he couldn't control his temper anymore. "I have absolutely ZERO interest in women. I realized that YEARS ago and nothing is going to change that." He grabbed on to Adam's hand and held on to it tightly. "I'm in love with Adam." That was a very bold statement to make considering who he was in the room with but he didn't care. He knew the way he felt and he wasn't backing down right now.

Gil's gaze turned to Adam, who was biting his tongue so hard that he felt like he was going to bite it clean in half. "What's your deal?" the older man asked, his voice cold and guarded. "What do you want from my son?"

Adam swallowed nervously before speaking, his mouth so dry that he had trouble getting the words out. "I'm in love with him too. I want to be with him."

Gil's eyes narrowed. "Really now? You do know he's seventeen don't you?"

Jeff winced as Adam didn't answer. "Daddy-"

"You don't look seventeen," Gil said to Adam in an accusing tone. "What are you, twenty something?"

"Sir-" Adam said tentatively.

Gil shook his head. "I should have you arrested for-"

"NO!" Jeff shouted, jumping up to his feet and shaking his head vehemently. "You CAN'T do that! He didn't do anything wrong!"

"You're seventeen years old and he's clearly several years older than you! That's statutory rape-"

"I WANTED to have sex with him, that's not rape!"

"Statutory rape has nothing to do with consent! It's about you being too young!"

"I am NOT too young! I love him and I want to be with him! You're just saying this because he's a guy!"

Matt got out of his chair and placed himself in between Gil and Jeff. "Okay let's just settle down before we start saying things we don't mean-"

"STAY OUT OF THIS!" Jeff screamed at Matt. "Haven't you fucking done enough?"

"Baby calm down," Adam pleaded. He got up and pulled Jeff back, ignoring the looks Matt and Gil were giving him. "Please just calm down."

"Where did you two even meet?" Matt asked, getting Gil to back up a few steps.

"We met when I went on that trip with Phil," Jeff answered, leaving out the part where he had been dating Phil at the time. It was bad enough that everyone had found out about him and Adam. He didn't need them knowing he had been secretly seeing Phil before this.

"That was like two weeks ago," Gil said disapprovingly. "How do you fall in love with someone that quick? Just how long have you been down here behind my back?"

"Um…a few days?" Adam said meekly.

Gil's eyes darkened and he glared at Jeff. "What in the world are you thinking?"

Jeff shook his head. "I love him."

"You barely know him."

"How would you know? You guys don't even know me!"

"How can we know you if you're keeping secrets from us?"

"Well what else am I supposed to do besides keep secrets from you? This whole fucking town frowns on anything that doesn't fit in with what-"

"Honey we're not the town," Eve said gently. She stepped forward and tried to grab Jeff's hand but he wouldn't let her touch him. That obviously hurt her feeling but she kept on talking anyway. "You never even gave us a chance to know the truth. You just assumed we would freak."

Jeff didn't respond to her. He just stared at Matt and Gil, who already seemed to be plotting to do something. "What-"

"I think we should talk about this in the morning," Matt said. "Adam should go stay in a hotel or something and we can discuss this in the morning when we've all calmed down."

"Hotel?" Jeff said incredulously. "The nearest hotel is an hour away! How is he supposed to get there?"

"He doesn't have a car?" Gil said with raised eyebrows.

"I was dropped off here," Adam said sheepishly. "I can find another place to-"

"No," Jeff said stubbornly. "I want you here."

"Well I don't," Gil said before Matt could stop him. "And this is my house and what I say goes." He looked at Matt. "Will you-"

"Yeah," Matt said with a nod. He grabbed Adam by the arm and began pulling him towards the door. "Come on. You're coming with me."

Jeff tried to stop Matt but he couldn't. Adam was being taken away from him to go stay in a hotel in Raleigh for a night. Jeff scowled and stormed off to his room, slamming the door shut behind him. He was more upset and furious than ever before in his life. He already knew what was going to happen in the morning. His dad and Matt weren't going to bring Adam back to talk this over. They were going to gang up on him while he was alone and tell him he couldn't be with Adam anymore. He just knew it and he couldn't accept it. The two of them were always acting like they knew best when in reality, they didn't know shit. They didn't know how much he loved Adam and wanted to be with him. And knowing them, they didn't want to get it. _They're not keeping me from him,_ Jeff vowed as he flung himself down on to the bed. _They're not. I'll be with him one way or another, them be damned._

…

Four hours later and all Adam could do was toss and turn in the hotel's bed. He couldn't sleep no matter how hard he tried. He was thinking back to the situation earlier with Jeff and his family and he wished he would have said more in defense to himself and Jeff. Honestly though, he had been at a loss for what to say and do when the shit had hit the fan. He had been busted for having sex with a seventeen year old. As crazy as he was about Jeff, he wasn't a complete idiot. He knew he was lucky that Gil and Matt hadn't tried to have him thrown in jail yet. There hadn't really been much he could have said that would have helped the situation. Maybe he had done the right thing in keeping his mouth shut. Things were bad enough as it was; it didn't need to be made worse by him running his mouth.

Deciding that laying down was useless, he got up and started to head to the bathroom so he could take a shower just to have something to do. Halfway to the bathroom though, his cell phone rang, making him stop so he could pull it out of his pocket and answer it. "Hello?"

"Where are you?" Jeff asked.

"Baby?"

"Yeah it's me. Where are you?"

"The Marriott by the airport," Adam answered. "Why aren't you in bed? If your dad hears you on the phone-"

"I'm not home," Jeff interrupted.

Adam blinked in surprise. "What do you mean you're not home?"

"I want to be with you. If I stay at home they won't let me be with you."

"So if you're not at home, where are you?"

"I stole one of my dad's old trucks after he and Matt and Eve fell asleep. I'm just entering Raleigh now so I'll come get you soon. We'll go somewhere where they can't find us."

Adam shook his head, absolutely amazed that Jeff was actually doing this. "Your family is going to lose their shit," he told him. "We could get in big trouble."

"I don't care. I love you, so you're worth it. Now do you want to do this or not?"

"Yeah," Adam said with a nod. "Let's do it."


	18. Chapter 18

Three months. That was how long it had been since anyone had seen any sign of Jeff and Adam. It had been one whole month since Jeff had picked up Adam at the hotel and had taken off to parts unknown. All Jay knew was that they were safe and Adam's mom had wired them what money she could afford to spend because Adam had jack shit in his own savings account. Jay had tried to tell her not to help him because it shouldn't be her responsibility but she was doing it anyway. The cops that were supposed to be looking for Jeff had no idea that she was aiding the on the run couple, mostly because once it became clear that Jeff ran away on his own, they kind of just turned their attention back to more "important" matters. Jay knew that Matt and Gil were still trying to find Jeff but he also knew that it was kind of a lost cause. If Jeff and Adam wanted to be together, they were going to be together. It was pretty obvious they didn't give a shit what everyone else thought. They wanted to be with each other and that was that. There really didn't seem to be anything anyone could do about it.

Taking a deep breath, Jay opened his eyes as Chris pulled the car into the parking lot of Piper's Pit. "You okay?" Chris asked.

Jay shrugged. "Yeah I guess so."

"Something on your mind?"

"Just Adam and Jeff."

"Ah. The usual." Chris kissed the back of Jay's hand and shook his head. "Look, I know that you're worried and that's okay because I am too. But you can't keep obsessing about it all the time. You're going to drive yourself absolutely insane."

"I think I'm kind of already there," Jay said, only half joking. "I just can't make it stop Chrissy. I keep thinking about them and wondering where they are and how they're doing and if they're coming home and how badly Adam can get killed if Jeff's family finds them…this is heavy shit man."

"It is," Chris agreed. "But again, you can't obsess over it. Adam and Jeff…well they probably don't know what they're doing but they'll find a way around it. You know how Adam is. He's a lazy bastard but he can be resourceful when he has to be. Believe me, if I know Adam as well as I think I do, he'll be back home ready to mooch off of us just like always. And we'll allow him to do that because…well I don't know. I guess just because we need a resident ass clown around, you know?"

Jay rolled his eyes. "Resident ass clown? That's a little harsh don't you think?"

"Well it's not like I'm going to say it to his face," Chris said with a shrug. He leaned over and kissed Jay's cheek. "Come on now. Let's go inside and have some drinks. If you're still all worried and shit in the morning we'll try to get Judy to get a hold of Adam and make him give her his address so she can tell us where he is and then we'll hunt him down and beat him for putting us through all this worrying bullshit. How does that sound?"

"That actually sounds pretty brilliant," Jay admitted. He kissed Chris on the lips, the simple peck lingering for longer than intended because he loved the way Chris tasted. "You are so smart. Have I ever told you how smart I think you are?"

"No but that's okay. You can let me know later tonight when we get home."

Jay smirked and kissed Chris again. "Okay. That sounds like a plan to me."

…

Even though it had been three months, Adam was still amazed that he was waking up every morning with Jeff in his arms. It all felt like a dream. It really did. Sometimes he had to stop and pinch himself to see if he was going to wake up and realize that he wasn't with Jeff at all. But this wasn't a dream. Jeff was here with him; neither of them were stuck at home separated from each other. And despite the fact that they were living kind of like gypsies, always moving from place to place with no real home so nobody possibly looking for Jeff could find him, this was the happiest either of them had ever been. Between some assistance from his mother and a couple nights a week stripping at local clubs, Adam was making enough money to support their current lifestyle but he knew this couldn't last forever. He wanted to have a home with Jeff and he knew that Jeff wanted the same thing. And because Jeff wanted it (and that fact was more important to him than he himself wanting it) he was going to do his best to make it happen.

Carefully rolling out of bed so he wouldn't disturb Jeff, he slipped on his boxers and walked across their hotel room so he could pull out the little cake he had gotten from the grocery store from its hiding place. Then he walked back over to the bed, carefully climbing back on it so he could start planting kisses all over Jeff's face. "Happy birthday to you," he sang quietly "happy birthday to you. Happy birthday my Jeffey, happy birthday to you." He kept planting kiss after kiss on the younger man, not stopping until he finally opened his eyes.

"Addy?" Jeff said groggily. "Wha-"

"Happy birthday," Adam said, showing Jeff the cake that he had got him.

That woke Jeff right the hell up. He certainly did like his treats. "Addy! That's so sweet!" He gave Adam a hard kiss and eagerly took the cake. "I told you that you didn't have to-"

"How can I not do something for your birthday?" Adam asked with a shake of his head. "That just could not happen." He grabbed his lighter off from the bedside table and used it to light the single candle. "Make a wish baby."

Jeff obediently closed his eyes and silently made his wish, blowing out his candle only a few seconds later. "Yay," Adam cheered, clapping his hands and kissing Jeff's cheek.

Jeff laughed and shook his head. "You're a dork."

"Yeah but I'm a loveable dork," Adam pointed out. He got back up so he could grab two plastic forks. "Do you want me to cut that or-"

"Nah, let's just dig into it," Jeff said. "It's not like we're sharing it with anyone else."

"Good point." Adam came back to the bed and handed Jeff one of the forks so they could start digging in at the same time. The cake was chocolate with green and orange frosting so their lips immediately started turning a rather interesting color. "This is some good stuff."

Jeff nodded in agreement. "Oh yeah." He ate another bite and rested his head on Adam's shoulder. "It's very good."

Adam smiled softly and kissed the top of Jeff's head. "What do you want to do today birthday boy? You only get one eighteenth birthday. How do you want me to make it special for you?"

Jeff grinned. "Well…I was thinking we could make love after we eat this and then we could go out and take a walk and then come back and make love in the shower and then watch TV and then make love and then have dinner and then make love-"

"Ah. So we're treating this like any other day then," Adam said. He nuzzled Jeff's hair, loving how soft it was.

"Yup," Jeff confirmed. "Because then tomorrow we can worry about where we have to go next."

Adam made a face and put his arm around Jeff's body so he could hug him tightly. He didn't want Jeff to worry at all. Jeff didn't need to worry. He was the one who was going to take care of them so Jeff didn't have to do anything that he didn't want to do. "You know, I was thinking that maybe that we should go back to my home," he said with a shrug. "There's this really good art school that's not too far from it and we can stay with Jay and Chris until I get a job and get the money for our own place."

Jeff frowned and tried to shake his head. "Addy I can get a job-"

"No," Adam immediately refused. "Absolutely not. I'm going to take care of you and that's that. You understand?"

Jeff smiled and nodded, tilting his head up so they could kiss. "You're going to take care of me?"

"Hell yeah."

"Forever and ever?"

"Till death do us part baby. That's a fucking promise."


	19. Chapter 19

"Okay, who's bright idea was it to try to throw a picnic today of all days?" Roddy asked as he handed everyone some towels so they could dry themselves off. "I mean really, do none of you watch the weather? Did you not realize there was supposed to be thunderstorms all day?"

Jay shook his head as he dried himself off as fast as he could. Amy had been the one who had come up with the picnic idea and he, Chris, Daffney, Trish, Mickie, Randy, Cooper and Connor had all gone along with it. James had tried to tell them that it was going to rain but seeing as how James never actually watched the weather, nobody had taken him seriously. _I hate it when he's right. Now he's going to be all smug and shit and drive us all completely nuts._ "Don't lecture us right now Hot Rod. We really don't need it."

"Yeah," Trish agreed. She unhappily shook her head as she wrung her hair out. "Look at this! Three hours at a salon down the drain."

Daffney looked at her like she was absolutely insane. "Three hours? You spent three hours at the salon?"

"Yeah," Trish said, frowning because she didn't see the problem with that. "Why? What's wrong with that?"

"There's nothing wrong with it," Amy said, quickly shooting a look to Daffney telling her to quit being purposefully bitchy about nothing. "And your hair still looks fine. Really."

Trish snorted in disbelief. "Yeah right." She looked over at Mickie, who was trying to wring the water out of her shirt. "I look awful don't I?"

"You couldn't look awful even if you tried," Mickie assured her.

Trish raised her eyebrows. "Good answer."

"I know." Mickie snagged her by the waist and pulled her over so they could kiss.

Randy raised his eyebrows as he watched the scene in front of him. "Okay, now just grab her breast-OW!" Amy and Daffney had both whacked him for that comment.

Connor frowned at Randy before tugging on Cooper's arm and giving him a confused look. "I thought he was gay too," he whispered loudly.

Cooper shook his head. "Randy likes anything that would spread their legs for him."

"Oh. Does that mean he likes doggies and stuff too?"

Jay groaned as unwanted mental images filled his brain. "Can we not go there?" he asked. "Please? I don't want to talk about Orton and his bestiality."

"Hey!" Randy said, switching from giving Connor a dirty look to giving it to Jay. "I've never ever had bestiality and I never ever will! You hear me?"

"Are you sure?" Connor asked, nobody quite sure if he was just trying to egg Randy on or if he honestly wanted to know the answer.

"Yes I'm sure."

"Are you really?"

"Yes."

"Are you absolutely positively-"

"YES!"

"Hey!" Cooper snapped when Connor whined unhappily. "Don't you talk to him like that you hear me?"

"He started it," Randy pointed out immaturely.

"I don't care," Cooper shot back. "If you're not careful, I'm going to be the one that finishes it."

Chris raised his eyebrows and then leaned over towards Jay so they could whisper quietly between themselves. "Don't you just love all this tension?"

"Oh yeah," Jay whispered back. "It's just so much fucking fun." He finished drying himself off and then plopped down in the nearest chair. "Hey Roddy, do you think we could get some beer?"

"And some wings?" Chris added hopefully. He sat down too and then pulled Jay over so he could sit in his lap. "And French fries?"

"We just ate!" Amy reminded him. "Remember? We fucking just demolished a thing of KFC-"

"Yeah but you guys hogged it all," Chris reminded her.

"We hogged it? YOU ate more than anyone!"

"Yeah," Connor added, hugging Cooper's arm as he hopped up and down. "You're a piggy Chris! A big fat piggy!"

Chris pouted his lips and shook his head. "I'm not a piggy!" He looked at Jay for support. "Tell them I'm not a piggy."

Jay nodded along and turned to the rest of them so he could tell them off. "He is not an nanimal! He is a human bean!"

Cooper, Connor, Mickie and Amy all started laughing while everyone else just looked confused. "Uh…what?" Randy said slowly.

"Rugrats reference," Mickie clarified. "Duck and cover."

Connor giggled and clapped his hands together. "I love the Rugrats. I want to watch them. Take me home Coopy so I can watch them. I have old tapes of them I know I do. I do I do."

Cooper made a face as Connor kept yanking on his arm like crazy. "Hold your horses you freak. I want a beer before we go."

"But Coopy-"

"Leave him alone Connor," Roddy ordered. "Okay?"

"Mean!" Connor yelled, sticking his tongue out at Roddy.

_Oh boy, here we go…_ Jay thought to himself as he shook his head. It was never a good idea to tell Connor stuff he didn't want to hear. It just ended in all kinds of badness.

"Mean mean mean mean mean!" Connor continued to shout, stomping towards the door so he could make a dramatic exit. Cooper was trying to grab him and pull him back but he wasn't having none of that. "Mean mean mean mean me-oooh! Look Coopy! Adam and his boyfriend are back!"

Jay's eyes just about popped out of his head. "What?" he said in disbelief. He got out of Chris's lap so he could go over to the window and look out it. "Son of a bitch…"

…

Jeff chewed on his lower lip as Adam took his hand and began to lead him towards the bar's entrance. "What if they don't like me?" he asked nervously.

Adam frowned and shook his head. "Don't like you? They've met you before and they liked you just fine."

"Yeah but that was back when I was with Phil. But what if they don't like me now? You went away to be with me. What if they hate me for making you go away?"

Adam shook his head. He got what Jeff was saying but he thought it was one of the most ridiculous things he had ever heard. "That's nonsense. The only person who could possibly resent us is Daffney and that would just be for Phil's sake. Believe me, once my friends really get to know you, they'll fucking love you."

"How do you know?"

"Because I adore you."

Jeff giggled as Adam kissed him. That sounded like a hell of a good reason to him, but he wasn't sure if it was realistic. Adam was extremely biased after all. But he really really wanted Adam to be right so he decided to accept his words as the truth. Since they were back and going to be settling down with all of Adam's friends, he really really did want to be accepted by them.

"Adam! Jeff! Hi hi hi!"

Adam and Jeff looked up just in time to get jumped on by Connor, who started hugging them for dear life. "Hi Connor," Adam said, wincing as Connor squeezed them as hard as possible. "How are you?"

"Good!" Connor replied. "I'm good." He looked at Jeff and grinned insanely. "Hi!"

"Hi," Jeff replied, unsure about whether he should hug him back or not.

Connor giggled and then licked Jeff's face, which just completely threw him off.

"Connor!" Cooper scolded as he and Jay exited the bar. "Get off them you freak!"

Connor pouted his lips and hugged them even more tightly. "Mean! I'm not a freak!" He didn't help his case at all by licking Adam, who pleaded with Cooper with his eyes to get Connor off of them.

Cooper shook his head and grabbed Connor by the scruff of the neck so he could yank him off. "Come on, we'll go home and watch Rugrats like you wanted."

Connor perked right up at that. "Yay!" he cheered. "Yay yay yay!" He hugged Cooper before waving goodbye to Adam and Jeff. "Bye bye poopy pants!" He cackled maniacally before skipping off, an annoyed Cooper following close behind them.

Jay watched them go, just shaking his head in disbelief. "I will never understand him." He looked back at Jeff and Adam, now shaking his head at them. "And you two-"

Adam waved his hands and tried to cut Jay off. "Jay look-"

"Do you have ANY idea how worried we've been?" Jay asked, not about to be denied. This lecture had been building for months and there was no stopping him now. "Huh? Do you? You just left without saying a word to anyone but Randy of all people! I'm your best friend and you didn't even tell me where you were going?"

Adam winced at Jay's tone. "You would have tried to talk me out of it."

"Yes I would have! You chased after a seventeen year old-"

"I'm eighteen now," Jeff interrupted. "Just so you know."

"Well you were seventeen at the time," Jay reminded him. "And you both just ran off without even thinking about what you were doing. Do you know how worried we've been? And your family!" He turned to Jeff as he said that. "Your family has been worried sick about you!"

"Yeah right," Jeff muttered, stuffing his hands in his pockets and kicking a pebble that was on the ground in front of him. Deep down, he did feel kind of bad but what else had he been supposed to do? Matt and Gil hadn't wanted him to be with Adam. They would have done everything in their power to keep him away from him and he hadn't been able to accept that. So he had done what he had to do to ensure that he and Adam could stay together. And he wasn't about to regret that.

Jay shook his head at Jeff before turning his attention back to Adam. "What were you thinking Adam? Huh? Can you explain that to me at least?"

"I love him," Adam said without hesitation. "I love him Jay. I fucking adore him and I'm sorry that I worried you guys but I'm not sorry for going off with him."

"Adam-"

"Jay he's different than everyone else," Adam said, squeezing Jeff's hand so tightly that it hurt (not that Jeff minded that much). "He makes me want to be better! I know I'm lazy and selfish and all that shit but with him, I want to be better! I want to get a job and make something out of myself and have my own place so I'm not always mooching off you and Chris."

Jay blinked, taken aback by that confession. He had never heard Adam say anything remotely like that before. Adam had claimed to love many people before, but none of them every exactly inspired him to change his ways. Sure he got off his ass and got a job when he was with John but that was more because Jay had given him an ultimatum and had said if he didn't start pulling his weight he was getting kicked out. It wasn't like he had actually been inspired to change.

Adam grinned because he knew that he had Jay stunned into silence. "I know I didn't go about this in the greatest way but I love him." He wrapped his arm around Jeff and smiled. "I want to spend the rest of my life with him."

Jeff smiled back and kissed Adam as hard as he could, both of them forgetting within seconds that Jay was standing right in front of them. "Guys," Jay said, snapping his fingers to get their attention. "Guys?" They still refused to tear their attention away from each other. "Oh forget it," he finally said in defeat. There was obviously no reasoning with them. He turned around and went back inside, letting the two lovebirds make-out to their hearts content.


	20. Chapter 20

Jeff towled his hair off while staring at his reflection in the mirror. He was now settled in the house that Adam shared with Chris and Jay and he just had to get used to it. There was definitely an adjustment to be made. While there were tons more freedom now than when he had been living with his dad and Matt, he could feel Chris and Jay watching him very very closely. It wasn't like they were mean to him or anything; they were definitely nice enough to his face and everything. But they were definitely far from being his best friends, which was fine with him. He could win them over, he was sure of it. They just weren't sure about him because they thought Adam was rushing things and being reckless with their whole relationship. Once they saw how much he really cared for Adam it would all be okay. He would win them over and there wouldn't be any more issues. It was just going to take time.

Once he was done drying off he put his clothes on and then left the bathroom so he could throw his dirty clothing in the hamper by the washer and dryer. Jay was at work, Chris was asleep because he had the day off and Adam was out job hunting for the third day in a row. Jeff was hoping he would have more luck this time because the sooner Adam got a job, the closer they would be to being able to move out into their own place. He wanted to get a job too to help out with that but Adam kept insisting that he didn't do that. Adam didn't want him lifting a finger. He wanted to be the provider and Jeff was so touched by the effort he wanted to make that he didn't argue with him about it.

His stomach growled so he decided to search the kitchen and see if there was anything good to eat. The selection really wasn't that great; someone needed to go to the store and do some shopping and they needed to do it fast. He finally decided on chicken nuggets and French fries and he made sure to make some for Chris as well just in case he woke up and wanted some too. He preheated the oven and then waited until it was ready and put the pan of food in before going to the living room and flopping down on the couch. He had to find a way to distract himself from thinking about Adam too much. Any time he spent away from the older man was too much for his taste. He wanted to be around Adam all the time because otherwise he felt like a part of him was missing. But he knew that he had to get a hold of himself so he forced himself to watch TV until his food was done. After he was done eating he thought about maybe drawing or something when a knock on the door distracted him.

"Hi!" Trish said brightly as he opened the door and found her and Mickie standing on the other side of it. "Is Jericho up yet?"

He shook his head. "He's still sleeping, why?"

"He's got my dvds and I need to steal them back," Trish replied.

"Apparently this is a major deal," Mickie said, squeezing her girlfriend's hand tightly and shaking her head.

"It IS a major deal," Trish said impatiently. "He's had them for two weeks now and he promised to give them back but he keeps "forgetting". Stupid bastard." She let herself in and dragged Mickie behind her. "I knew I shouldn't have let him borrow them. This is what I get for trying to be nice. I knew I should have been a bitch and said no. I fucking knew it."

Jeff blinked as he closed the door, not sure whether it would be a good idea to laugh or not. It seemed ridiculous to him to be that upset over some dvds but she seemed so serious about it that he was almost afraid to laugh because that could potentially lead to him getting his ass kicked.

Mickie looked back to see Jeff's uncertainty and she shook her head and slipped away from Trish so she could stay behind with him. "She's being overdramatic," she told him. "She gets a little uh…possessive with her things."

The next thing they heard was a gigantic crash and Chris's cry of pain. "OW OW OW, WHAT THE FUCK?"

"That's what you get!" Trish yelled back at him.

"You just about killed me for those things?"

"Well I told you you wouldn't like it if I had to come hunting for them, now didn't I?"

Jeff's lips twitched and he raised his eyebrows. "A little huh?"

Mickie chuckled and shook her head. "Yeah…so what do you have planned today?"

Jeff shrugged. "Nothing really. I was just going to watch TV until Adam got home."

"Oh yeah, he's job hunting isn't he?" Mickie shook her head. "You really are a miracle worker. From what Trish told me, Adam and job hunting used to be like oil and water."

He shrugged again. "I really didn't do anything. He wanted to do it."

"Uh huh…" She smiled and hooked arms with him. "Trish and I are going shopping after this. Do you want to come with us?"

Jeff thought about it for a moment before nodding. He really didn't have any money so that sucked but he really wanted to get out of the house for once. He hadn't really been out on his own because he didn't know his way around the city and Adam wouldn't be back for several hours. If he tagged along with Trish and Mickie then maybe he could get properly distracted and time wouldn't go so fucking slowly.

"Excellent!" Mickie said happily. She bounced up and down as Trish came back to the room with her dvds. "Trish! We have a new shopping partner!"

Trish raised her eyebrows at Jeff. "You sure you're up for it? We're hardcore with our shopping babe and a lot of people can't handle that."

"I think I'll be okay," Jeff assured her, already reaching for a pen and paper so he could write Adam a note saying where he was going just in case Adam came home sooner than expected. "I may not look it but I can do some serious shopping if given the chance."

Trish grinned at that and came over to him so she could kiss his cheek and link her arm with his free one. "We'll just see about that Rainbow."

"Rainbow? Why am I Rainbow?"

"Look at your hair and tell me one good reason why you shouldn't be Rainbow." She smirked when he couldn't come up with a reason against it. "That's what I thought."

…

Two hours later and Jeff was struggling not to show just how much Trish and Mickie were wearing him out. When Trish had said they were hardcore shoppers, they really had not been kidding. They were taking him from store to store to store, trying on absolutely everything they liked and they made sure to include him on all of it by having them hold things for them or asking for his input about stuff looked. Now he was used to shopping with Eve so he decided to take the approach he always used with her; if something looked like shit on them, he was honest about it and suggested something else that would look better. He had a good eye for that kind of stuff and he could tell he was impressing the girls with that.

"You are amazing," Trish declared after Jeff had picked out a pair of black leather pants and a nice white tank top for her. "Absolutely amazing."

Jeff grinned and played up to the compliment by smirking smugly. "I am aren't I?"

She laughed and ruffled his hair playfully. "You are. And such awesomeness should be rewarded, shouldn't it Mickie?"

Mickie nodded as she smoothed down the blue skirt she had just put on. "I'm thinking ice cream."

Jeff brightened right up at that. "I love ice cream," he said excitedly.

"I was thinking more along the lines of frozen yogurt…" Trish said slowly, which made Mickie shake her head.

"Frozen yogurt? Come on honey, let's get real ice cream. You're not going to turn into a giant blob from eating just a little bit of ice cream."

Jeff nodded along and gave Trish his very best puppy dog face, which made her cave almost right away.

"Okay okay! We'll get real ice cream. Happy now?"

"Yes!" Mickie hugged her neck and gave her a big kiss before they went back into the dressing room and changed into their regular clothes. They made their purchases and then linked arms with Jeff once again so they could take him to the nearest Dairy Queen. When they got there he and Mickie got themselves giant hot fudge sundaes (which Jeff made sure his got mountains and mountains of sprinkles on top) and Trish got a small vanilla milkshake.

"So you're from North Carolina right?" Trish asked after they sat down at one of the tables that were outside.

Jeff nodded. "Yep. Cameron, North Carolina. Home of two hundred people and a lot of tobacco fields." He took a giant bite of his ice cream and motioned his arms around widely. "I like it here much much better. I actually have things to do around here."

"What about your family?" Mickie asked. "Are they still living there?"

"My dad is. My brother is too until he gets married and then he and his wife are going to get a house in Raleigh I think." That was the plan as far as Jeff knew it and he didn't see it changing just because he was out of the loop. Once Matt and Eve decided on something they rarely changed their minds about it. That just wasn't their style."

Mickie and Trish both nodded along to that. "Have you talked to them since uh…the last time you talked to them?" Mickie asked hesitantly.

Jeff hesitated, unsure about whether to lie about that or not. If he told the truth and say that he hadn't talked to them at all, he could be facing yet another lecture about how he should do that. But if he lied, he could be put on the spot and he wasn't good at that. Him and lying were very rarely two things that went together. He was lucky he had even hidden his true sexual orientation from his family as long as he did because he was that bad at lying.

Trish sensed how uncomfortable he was getting so she decided to shake her head and wave off the question. "Forget it," she told him. "What are your hobbies? What do you want to do with your life? Is Adam good in bed?"

Mickie's jaw dropped. "And why would you want to know that?" she asked incredulously.

"Well JoMo said he was good in bed but I always thought he was biased," Trish explained. "So I want a second opinion."

"He's amazing in bed," Jeff told them. "Really. Best I've ever had." He blinked and then shook his head. "Wait, that made me sound like a slut or something."

Trish laughed and reached over the table to pat his hand. "Don't worry. We all say stuff that makes us sound like sluts sometimes. It's a part of life."

Jeff grinned and kind of nodded his head before addressing the other questions. "I like to paint and sculpt and write music and as for my life…I don't know. Beyond spending the rest of it with Adam I haven't really thought about it yet."

"You're really crazy about him, aren't you?" Mickie asked with a soft smile.

Jeff nodded. "Yeah." He took another bite of his sundae. "What about you two? How did you meet?"

They both grinned at each other before answering. "Piper's Pit," Trish answered. "I was in my first year of medical school and she just got out of cosmetology school. I remember seeing her staring at me from across the room-"

"She had on this really low cut top and the shortest skirt I have ever seen in my life," Mickie said, rubbing Trish's leg in appreciation. "And with that cowboy hat on top of it…yeah, it took me awhile to believe that she was actually looking to be a doctor."

Trish smirked and kissed the back of Mickie hand before going on with the story. "Anyway she bought me a drink and we started talking and then we hooked up and uh…the rest as they say, is history."

"So are you still studying to be a doctor-"

"Yeah, I'm still in med school. I'm almost done though which is awesome."

"People doctor or animal doctor?"

"People doctor."

"Cool." He looked at Mickie. "What about you?"

"Make-up artist for Likansuk," she replied.

"Likansuk?"

"James's porn enterprise. Not exactly my dream job but I take what I can get. Anything to pay the bills." She leaned against Trish who began to play with her long brown hair. "Although I guess it could be worse. I could be reduced to starring in one of those films."

"Yeah that wouldn't be good," Jeff agreed. "I-" His phone started to ring and he pulled it out of his pocket so he could answer it. "Hello?"

"Baby it's me," Adam said on the other line. He sounded like he was in a very very good mood.

"Hi baby!" Jeff said happily, making Trish and Mickie grin. "Did you see my note I left you?"

"I'm not home yet actually," Adam told him. "Why?"

"Oh. Well I left a note saying that I was going shopping with Mickie and Trish."

"Ah. I see. Well I've got good news for you. I am now an official employee for The Cabana."

"That's great!" Jeff exclaimed. "That's awesome baby. Now what is that?"

"A bar. I'm a bartender now."

"Oooh cool."

"I agree. Now uh…once you're done shopping I think we should celebrate."

"Okay," Jeff agreed. "Do you want to go out or stay in?"

"I think we should uh…stay in. Order some pizza, lay in bed all night…how does that sound?"

Jeff giggled and nodded his head. "That sounds perfect. Count me in."


	21. Chapter 21

"So what is this place called?" Jeff asked as he grabbed another piece of pizza and held it up to Adam's mouth. Upon meeting up at home they had immediately gone into their room to fuck before calling in the pizza. Then they had fucked once again while waiting for the delivery and now they were sprawled out on the bed, stuffing their faces to their hearts content.

"Carlito's Cabana," Adam answered. He took a giant bite of the pizza, burning the roof of his mouth with the molten hot cheese in the process. "Ah! Hot hot hot!"

"That's why you take little bites," Jeff said in exasperation. "Have you learned nothing by now?"

"I guess not." Adam forced himself to chew and swallow the mouthful of food he had and then reached over and grabbed his Coke, eagerly drinking it to help soothe the burning in his mouth. "Stupid me. I feel so ashamed."

"Aw, my poor Addy." Jeff let Adam feed him a bite of pizza before giving the older man an Eskimo kiss. "Once we're all done I'll kiss you and make you feel better."

"What, you won't kiss me all better now?" Adam asked with a pout.

"Nope. I need to be fed first." Jeff bounced up and down eagerly. "Feed me Addy, feed me!"

Adam had to laugh and happily oblige the younger man. "While I was out today I looked up some art schools for you."

"You did?" Jeff said.

"Mmhmm."

"And?"

"There's some good ones in the area but uh…without like scholarships and stuff, they're all uh…kind of pricey."

Jeff wasn't that shocked to hear that. He hadn't expected anything less. "That's why you need to let me go out and get a job," he said, kissing Adam's fingertips after eating another bite of food. "I know you want to be the provider and all that but you're trying to get money for our own place and our day to day living. I can't ask you to fund any attempt to send me to art school."

"But I want to," Adam told him. "I wanna give you the world. You're my Jeff. I gotta take care of you."

Jeff grinned. Adam was too sweet. Deciding that the need to reward Adam for that sweetness was more important than dinner, he moved the food completely out of the way before grabbing Adam's jeans and unbuttoning them.

"Oooh, what do you think you're doing?" Adam asked with a grin.

"What does it look like?" Jeff replied. He bounced lightly in impatience. "Hips up."

Adam complied, watching Jeff closely as he pulled off his jeans and underwear and toss them carelessly across the room. His cock was already starting to harden from anticipation and Jeff lightly ghosting it with his fingertips was only adding to it. "Don't tease," he lightly pleaded. "Teasing is mean."

"It's also fun," Jeff pointed out. He continued to run his fingertips up and down Adam's cock before moving his head down and circling the head with his tongue. Adam let out a small moan and tried to buck his hips up so Jeff would have to take his entire length down his mouth but Jeff held him down before licking over the slit. They were doing this at his pace and Adam could just shut up and deal with it.

"You're mean," Adam complained. He was pouting his lips and doing his best to look adorable so he could get his way. "Mean mean mean."

Jeff could only laugh before moving his head further down and running the tip of his tongue up and down the underside of Adam's cock. Adam's body jerked when he went over the vein that ran along there and it made Jeff giggle as he began to kiss and suck on Adam's balls.

"Fuck," Adam cursed under his breath. He grabbed on to the bed sheets and started clinging to them already. Jeff's mouth was amazing. He had gotten good blowjobs in the past but none of them compared to the ones Jeff gave him. He wasn't exactly sure what it was that Jeff did that drove him so fucking wild. All he knew was that Jeff's mouth was the most amazing thing besides from his ass.

Jeff continued to play with Adam's balls for a little longer before lightly biting his thighs and then taking the cock head in his mouth and lightly sucking on it. He tightened his grip on Adam's hips before deep throating him quickly, sucking on every inch of the hard, throbbing length. He moved his head back up and went back to just sucking on the head, which made Adam grab on to his hair and shake his head.

"You're lucky I just don't fuck your face."

"Maybe I'm asking for it," Jeff replied with a smirk. He place soft kisses all over Adam's cock before taking it back in his mouth and sucking on it vigorously. Adam moaned and kept such a tight grip on his hair that it hurt but that was okay. The pain felt nice.

"That's it," Adam encouraged, gasping at the vibrations that ran through him because Jeff decided to start humming. "Oooh fuck. Baby…" He gasped and finally managed to arch his hips up, nearly choking Jeff with his cock in the process. "Your mouth is so amazing."

Jeff would have grinned if he didn't have a mouth full of dick. So, lieu of grinning, he just sucked harder and faster while rolling and caressing Adam's balls with his right hand.

"Oh fuck!" Adam moaned, pumping his hips up desperately and fucking Jeff's mouth. "Gonna cum…"

_Good._ Jeff sucked even harder and faster, refusing to let up until he felt Adam's hot sticky cum shooting down his throat. He quickly started swallowing, getting down every drop and feeling quite happy about it.

"Holy fuck," Adam gasped as he panted for breath.

"I know," Jeff said proudly. He reached back over and grabbed the pizza so they could resume eating. "I'm fucking awesome. Learn it and enjoy it baby."

…

"So, the Cabana huh?" Chris said as he, Jeff and Jay watched Adam get ready for work. They were all glad he had gotten a job with something he could actually do (he had briefly been a bartender about a year and a half ago and he had been good at it until he had gotten himself fired for banging the boss's son).

"Yup," Adam confirmed for the twentieth time. "Why does everyone keep asking me like that? Is it so hard to believe that I got hired there?"

Jay shrugged. "It's not for me. I mean, that place has a reputation for being rough and sleazy and you're sleazy-"

"What?" Adam frowned and pouted at Jay. "You think I'm sleazy?"

"I don't think that, I know that," Jay shot back.

"Hey!" Jeff shook his head and got up so he could hug Adam protectively. "My Addy is not sleazy."

"Yeah," Adam agreed as he hugged Jeff back. "You take it back you dickhead."

"No," Jay refused. "I will not. You're sleazy and you know it-"

"So clap your hands!"

All eyes turned to Chris and he chuckled meekly. "What? Wrong time?"

Adam rolled his eyes. "Eat my ass Jericho."

"Oooh, you offering? Ow!" Chris had gotten smacked by both Jeff and Jay for that one. "I was just asking!"

"Well you shouldn't have done that," Jeff told him. He wrapped his arms around Adam's waist and snuggled up against him. "I'm going to miss you tonight."

"I'll miss you too." Adam didn't want to anywhere without Jeff, let alone work, but he kept reminding himself that he had to go in order to be a good provider for Jeff and that helped a bit.

"Oh baby, these next few hours are going to be hell," Jay said in a completely over the top way. He grabbed on to Chris and hugged him for dear life. "I love you baby. Don't leave me."

"I don't want to sweet darling love of my life," Chris replied just as dramatically. "I wish I could take you with me and kiss you and love you and hump you-"

Adam glared at them before taking Jeff and stepping away from the duo that was making fun of them. "Ignore them baby," he said firmly. "They're just jealous that they're not as hot as us."

Jay snorted. "Oh yeah, that's it. Our problem is jealousy. That's it exactly."

"Yes it is," Adam said. "Jealousy is an ugly, ugly thing."

"Oh please. We're hotter than the two of you."

"Ha. Keep dreaming." Adam kissed Jeff before jerking his head towards Chris and Jay. "if they speak any lies while I'm gone, feel free to destroy them."

Jeff nodded, grinning evilly just for Jay and Chris's benefit. "Don't worry, I will. Bitches won't know what hit them."

…

Adam had been in Carlito's Cabana a few times but it wasn't a place he normally chose to inhabit. Part of it was because the owner Carlito Colon and Roddy didn't get along and the other part was because the bar was in one of the nastier parts of town. Violence, drugs and death were common themes within the six block radius of the place and it was not a place that he wanted Jeff to come near ever. As it was, he had his guard up from the very beginning and it didn't go down as the night went on and things were going well. He was just expecting something to happen and eventually he was proven right. A fight broke out between a group of guys and as all eyes turned to the brawl, someone tapped him on the arm.

"Wha-" BOOM! He had gotten punched in the face so hard that his nose broke on impact.

"Oh I'm sorry, did that hurt?" It was Daffney who had just delivered the blow. She cackled loudly at the sight of his blood and then stormed off, leaving him in a pained filled daze.


	22. Chapter 22

"So she just punched you?" Jeff said as he continued to fuss over Adam's bruised and battered face. He had just heard about what had happened and he was not happy about it at all. Nobody could just punch his Adam like that. That was complete and utter bullshit in his eyes. Sure he was a completely biased opinion but still it wasn't right or fair.

"Yeah," Adam confirmed. He was laying on the couch, once again holding ice on his nose in hopes that maybe the swelling would go down faster if he did. He had already been up to the hospital and had gotten some pills for the pain, so at least he wasn't feeling quite as miserable as before. "I always knew she was a few fries short of a Happy Meal but this is ridiculous."

Jeff nodded in agreement and wrapped his arms around Adam protectively. "Why do you think she did it anyway?"

"Well gee, let's think…" Chris said sarcastically as he stepped into the room. "It's not like the two of you totally hurt her cousin who she loves and adores very VERY dearly…"

Jeff twitched and hugged Adam even more tightly. "Well why didn't she just come find me and hit me instead? I was the one who cheated on Phil, she should take it up with me."

Chris shrugged. "Maybe she'll eventually do that. You gotta realize though Jeffro that Adam's not exactly innocent in this whole deal too. He knew you were taken and he still pursued you. You're both guilty as sin and you both caused Phil pain. Take it from someone who's been cheated on before, that shit really fucking stings-and what goes around comes around." With that he left, leaving Jeff and Adam to their own devices once again.

"Do you think what we did was wrong?" Jeff asked, his fingers playing Adam's long blonde locks.

Adam shrugged. "I don't really but then again, we're pretty biased aren't we? We're the ones that are happy together…" His voice trailed off as he mulled over everything for a couple of minutes and then he shook his head. "Right or wrong, I don't give a shit. I love you."

Jeff grinned and gave Adam a kiss. "I love you too." He stood up and grabbed Adam's hand. "Come on, get up."

"Why?" Adam asked, standing up but also hanging back a bit until he knew what it was Jeff was up to.

"I'm Dr. Jeffey," Jeff replied. "And you're my patient Addy. And as your doctor I must tend to all your boo boos."

Adam lips twitched into a smile. "Dr. Jeffey huh? Well thank goodness you're here doctor. I've got this strange condition where I get this really big hardness in my pants and I don't know what to do about it. Do you think you can help me?"

Jeff grinned and nodded happily. "Oh yeah. I'll help you with that, even if it takes me all night."

…

The next day it came to be realized that they were in desperate need of food so Jay and Chris dragged Adam and Jeff out of bed and made them go to the grocery store with them. Neither one of them wanted to get up; Adam's nose was still bothering him so he was a bit cranky and Jeff just hadn't wanted to wake up. Ten in the morning was too early for him; if someone would let him he would easily sleep until two or three in the afternoon and be perfectly happy about it.

"Come on, quit dragging your feet," Jay said as he looked back at the unhappy couple. "It's not going to go any quicker if you two are pouting."

"We're not pouting," Adam denied sullenly. "Right Jeff?"

Jeff could only nod and yawn. He was not functional by any means yet. He had already run into several things, including two old people that looked quite annoyed by his mumbled apologies.

Adam grinned and grabbed Jeff's hand and kissed it. "You're so cute," he said, kissing his hand again before giving him a kiss on the lips. "I love you."

"I love you more," Jeff claimed. He rested his head against Adam's shoulder and yawned. He wanted to close his eyes and go back to sleep so badly and he couldn't. It was no fucking fair.

"You sure about that?" Adam asked, wrapping his arm around Jeff and hugging him tight. "Cuz I love you so much that I don't think that it can be beat."

"I'm sure," Jeff insisted. "I love you times infinity. Nothing beats that."

"Oh someone please just kill me," Chris muttered under his breath.

"Kill you?" Jay shook his head. "No no no no. You're not allowed to die. We'll just kill them and save us from the overly mushy crap that comes out of their mouths."

Adam and Jeff both glared at Jay before flipping him off at the same time. "You're an ass," Adam told his long time best friend. "You're a big giant stupid ass."

Jay just shrugged at that comment. "Tell me something I don't know."

Jeff smirked mischievously. "Last night Addy gave me-"

"No no no no!" Jay put his hand over Jeff's mouth and shook his head. "None of that. I don't want to know any of that stuff, you got me?" He rolled his eyes as Jeff just giggled. "Don't do that. It's not funny."

"Sure it is," Adam insisted. He pulled Jeff away from Jay and started leading him off to another aisle. "It's hilarious. Now if you need us, we'll be grabbing ourselves some snacks."

Jeff continued to giggle while hugging Adam as they walked. "I like snacks."

"Me too. Hence why we are getting them."

"Can I also get ice cream?"

"Sure."

"And chocolate syrup?"

"Yeah."

"And caramel syrup?"

"Mmhmm."

"And-"

"Jeff, whatever you want, you're getting," Adam informed him. "So let's just settle that matter right now."

Jeff could only grin in response. "Thank you Addy." He yawned again and rubbed his eyes. He had to try to wake the fuck up. He had no idea how long they were going to be at the store and even if he tried to go back to bed when they got back home that was no guaranteed that he was going to be given the chance to sleep. Even if it was on Adam's agenda Jay and Chris were not quiet people by any means. Intentionally or not, they were going to keep him awake so he might as well just give up on the sleep hopes for now.

"Adam?"

Adam and Jeff stopped and turned to face a brunette man around Adam's age. Jeff didn't know who the hell he was but Adam sure did. "Hey John. How have you been?"

John shrugged his shoulders. "I've been better. Drew's kind of…missing so yeah…"

"Huh." Adam didn't sound overly upset about that so he must not have liked Drew.

John could obviously tell that and he rolled his eyes before letting them settle on Jeff. "Who's this?" he asked.

"I'm Jeff," Jeff replied, speaking for himself instead of letting Adam do it for him. "Adam's boyfriend."

John raised his eyebrows. "Oh yeah?" He looked at Adam for a second before taking Jeff's hand and shaking it. "I'm John Morrison, Adam's ex-boyfriend."

_Ex…holy fuck._ Jeff stared at John for a long moment before quickly glancing at Adam and then looking back at John. He suddenly felt really really insecure. John was fucking gorgeous. Like really, really gorgeous and he was just…well _not_. Especially not right now. He had on a pair of sweatpants and one of Adam's t-shirts and his hair was pulled back into a messy ponytail because he hadn't bothered to brush it yet. John meanwhile, had his long hair hanging on his shoulders and he had on a mesh sleeveless top that not only showed off his sculpted arms but also showed off a set of abs that most people could only dream about having.

Adam's brow furrowed a little bit as he noticed how uncomfortable Jeff had become. "Well we're going to go," he said, discreetly tightening his grip on Jeff while giving John a nod. "Want me to tell Jay and Chris I said hey?"

"Sure," John said, barely able to tear his own eyes away from Jeff. He had a very mixed look in his eyes and Jeff felt himself shrink back a bit. He wasn't exactly sure what vibes it was that was being sent his way but he knew he didn't like them. He didn't like them at all. "Tell them to text or call me. I want to hang out with them."

"Right." Adam gave John one last nod and then led Jeff away, giving him a concerned look once they were a safe distance. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Jeff said quickly. "I'm fine."

Adam frowned. "Are you sure? You look…I don't know, not okay."

Jeff forced himself to shake his head. "I'm fine babe. Really, I am." He gave Adam a deep kiss on his lips, sliding his tongue into his mouth and happily making out with him to make him forget all about his concerns. As insecure as Jeff felt at the moment, he didn't want Adam to know about it. Insecurity was not sexy by any means so he really didn't want Adam catching on to it. _John probably never got insecure…_ "Now let's get me that ice cream."

…

Later that day while Adam was playing video games with Jay, Jeff went out on the front porch so he could smoke a cigarette. He knew that he really should be trying to quit because it was not a good vice to have and Adam wanted him to stop but right now he couldn't help himself. He needed to relax and this was the quickest way he could do it.

A car pulled up into the driveway and Jeff sat up a bit, watching the vehicle carefully while taking another long drag of his cigarette. It turned out to be Amy, and he immediately tensed up because he expected Daffney to be with her.

"She's not here," Amy said as soon as she saw the look on Jeff's face. "I made her stay home so this could be a non-violent visit."

"Oh." Jeff let out a small sigh of relief. "That's good."

"Yeah." Amy walked up the porch steps and stopped right in front of Jeff. "Don't do that honey, you're too pretty for it." She took the cigarette out of Jeff's mouth and threw it down so she could put it out with her foot. "How's Adam's face?"

"His nose is broken," Jeff replied. He stuck his hands into his pockets, already preparing to take out another cigarette once Amy went away. "She hit him really hard."

Amy winced. "Oh Jesus…"

"Why did she do it?" Jeff asked. He already knew Chris's theory on the whole thing but he wanted to hear what Amy had to say. Daffney was her girlfriend she had to know what was going on inside her head better than anyone.

"Why do you think? Phil of course. We've talked to him a lot since the two of you split up and her anger has been building for awhile now. I guess it finally just came spilling out."

"Yeah, I'd say that it did." Jeff shook his head and took one of his hands out of his pocket so he could bite his nails. "Think she'll be coming for me next?"

"I'll try to keep her back," Amy promised. "I can't make any guarantees though." She glanced towards the house. "Is he in there?" She waited until Jeff nodded before asking the next question. "You think he'll want to see me so I can make an apology on Daff's behalf?"

"You can go find out," Jeff said with a shrug.

"Okay." Amy took a couple of steps towards the house before stopping to look back at Jeff. "Are you and Adam happy together?"

"Yeah," Jeff said, frowning at the question. "Why?"

"Just asking." It seemed like she had more to say on the matter but she kept her mouth shut in favor of going into the house, leaving Jeff alone outside with his thoughts.


	23. Chapter 23

"_I really am sorry about your nose," Amy apologized yet again. She was standing there, watching Adam pour bowl after bowl of cereal for himself. She had found him playing video games with Jay but then he had apparently decided that he was hungry so she had followed him into the kitchen to talk to him while he poured out an entire box of cereal. "Really I am. I tried to talk to her and tell her violence wasn't going to solve anything."_

_Adam snorted and grabbed another bowl so he could pour even more cereal into it. "Maybe you should do something about her listening skills then," he said sarcastically. As soon as the words left his mouth he wished he hadn't said them. He knew that he shouldn't be throwing any kind of blame on her. Nobody could control Daffney, not even her own girlfriend. The girl had never played with a full deck and Adam had known that for years. But still, he hadn't been able to stop himself from making the comment. Maybe it was because he knew that in the overall scheme of things he knew that she still sided with Daffney, even though the whole breaking of the nose thing was wrong._

_Her whole body stiffened and she gave him a look that made him cringe. He now felt like a kid who had just pissed off his mom big time. "I'll get right on that," she snipped angrily. She turned around and started to leave but he grabbed her by the wrist to stop her from getting very far._

"_I'm sorry," he said quickly. "I didn't mean it, okay? I was just being an ass." He stuck out his lower lip and gave her his best puppy dog face. "Forgive me?"_

_She kept up with the glaring until his face became too much to resist and she sighed and nodded. "Okay."_

"_Good." He reached into the cereal box and pulled out the toy surprise, which was what he had been after all along. "Aha! Finally got it!"_

"_Oh are you kidding me?" Amy didn't know whether to roll her eyes in exasperation or laugh in disbelief. "You really just dumped out all that cereal so you could get to the toy?"_

"_Pretty much," Adam replied honestly. He poured all but one bowl back into the box and then went to the fridge so he could grab the milk. _

"_You're a weirdo."_

"_Nope. I just know the value of cheap plastic toys." Adam pocketed the toy and poured the milk into his bowl before putting it back into the fridge. "So should I expect a repeat performance from Daff or is Phil going to come up here himself and do something to me?"_

"_I'll keep Daff away if I can," Amy promised. "I don't know what Phil's plans are…I know he was pretty broken up over how he and Jeff ended but I don't think he would come up here to win him back."_

"_Because he didn't really love Jeff," Adam said._

"_No," she replied. "Because even if he got him back he wouldn't ever be able to fully trust him again. If Jeff could cheat once he could easily do it again."_

_Adam instantly stiffened at her words. "What makes you say that?"_

"_You know why I said it," Amy said matter of factly. Her tone was gentle but also very firm so he wouldn't try to just space her off. "I just want you to be careful, okay?"_

"_Careful? Amy come on, you don't know what you're talking about. Jeff and I are in love and we're going to stay that way."_

"_Didn't you say that about Mor?" _

"…_Amy what the hell is your point here?"_

"_I just want you to be careful Adam," she said with a shake of her head. "You've got this thing where you're always jumping into relationships even when it's not the best idea. And it just always seems to end badly one way or another…" She stopped and sighed when she saw that her warning wasn't really going over too well with him. She meant well; Adam's relationship issues were quite notorious among his circle of friends and they were all pretty much in agreement that he needed to take a break from them and focus on getting his own life together but of course he wouldn't ever do that. That wasn't his way and everyone was just going to have to sit back and let everything take it's course. Hopefully everything would work out for the best this time._

…

It was another wild night at the Cabana and while normally that bothered Adam because of the place's usual clientele, tonight it was all a welcome distraction. His and Amy's conversation was repeating itself in his brain and he couldn't make it stop no matter how hard he tried. It was annoying him greatly because he wanted to just be able to blow it off. What did she know? Nothing, that was what. But still, it lingered on and it was driving him nuts. Maybe it was just because he did have such shitty luck with relationships. Even when he had the best of intentions it all seemed to go to shit after awhile. But still, why should the past dictate his present with Jeff? This time with Jeff everything felt different. He loved him in ways he didn't think he could adequately describe to anyone else. And because he loved him that much, he was bound and determined to make things different this time.

"Adam! Quit spacing off on us buddy!"

Adam shook his head and looked over at Carlito's younger brother Primo. "Sorry," he said quickly. He got back to pouring drinks, silencing his own heavy thoughts with concentrating on his job. He couldn't afford to be caught slacking off in any way this time. He needed to keep it and work hard so he could raise enough money for him and Jeff to get their own place. There was no way he wanted to keep living with Jay and Chris much longer. He loved his friends to death but he knew that they, along with everyone else was doubting that he and Jeff would last. It annoyed him to no end but he was going to prove them wrong. No-THEY would prove them all wrong.

…

"Come ON guys! Aren't you ready yet?" Jeff yelled impatiently. He was waiting for Trish and Mickie to finish getting ready because they were going to sneak him into Carlito's Cabana so he could see Adam at work. Apparently the Cabana was not good at carding people at all and was lucky to not have been busted serving alcohol to minors. Jeff was glad that it would be relatively easy for him to get in because he wanted to see Adam really bad. Adam was working almost every night and Jeff found himself not liking it at all. Sure he knew that Adam needed to work so they could get their own place and have an income to live off of but the hours he was now working made it so he wasn't coming home until around three or four in the morning and Jeff didn't like trying to go to sleep on his own. Not now that he had grown accustomed to snuggling up and falling asleep in Adam's arms.

"Just give us a minute!" Mickie yelled back at him.

"You said that an hour ago!" Jeff whined.

"It was ten minutes ago," Trish corrected. "Now quit whining. We'll be ready soon."

Jeff groaned loudly and flopped down on the chair. He had been ready to go for what felt like forever now. He had changed in the bathroom here, putting on a black mesh shirt and a pair of leather pants that were almost way way too tight. He had his hair hanging loose over his shoulders and a touch of eyeliner on because the girls had thought it would make him look hot. Typically he wasn't one to go for make-up of any kind but this time he just humored them and it actually didn't turn out that bad looking.

About five minutes later Trish and Mickie trotted down the stairs, finally ready to go. Mickie had on a blue spaghetti strapped tank top and a brown mini-skirt with high heeled boots to match and Trish had on a black corset with leather pants and black heels. "We look good?" Mickie questioned.

Jeff nodded and got back up to his feet. "Yeah. You look real good." He held out his arms and spun around. "You sure I look good?"

"We've only told you that about five times now," Trish replied. She grabbed his arm and linked it with hers. "You look great." She and Mickie lead him out of the house and he climbed into the backseat of the car while Trish got in the driver's seat and Mickie got in the passenger one. "You remember what we talked about?"

"Don't make eye contact with the skeezy pervs," Jeff recited dutifully. The two of them had only been drilling that into his head since they agreed to take him there in the first place. "Don't leave my drink anywhere unattended and don't bug Adam too much because he needs this job too much."

"Good boy." Mickie turned around to pat his leg before Trish started the car and they were off.

…

The music seemed to be pounding even louder than normal and there was a lot more smoke in the air than usual, which made Adam cough as he did his best to play good bartender to the rowdy crowd. It wasn't easy considering everything he was trying to deal with. On top of the usual rowdy patrons he had large biker tops making obscene catcalls to him every five seconds, drunk college girls trying to seduce him into giving them free drinks and a few young Mexican guys that were getting really dirty looks from the bikers. Adam had this really bad feeling that he was about to get caught in the middle of a race related brawl and it made him very nervous-and wonder what the bikers were doing in a bar owned by a Puerto Rican.

"Adam! Hey Adam!"

He looked over and saw that Jay and Chris waving him down. He raised his eyebrows and grabbed the bottle of tequila he knew they were wanting and went over to them. "Hey guys." He was very surprised to see them there. Generally speaking, they avoided the place like the plague. "What are you guys doing here?"

"Well we were at the movies but they sucked so we left early and came here," Chris replied.

"To see me?"

"Actually just because this place was closest but you can make it about you if you want," Jay said with a smirk.

"Oh fuck you," Adam said. He would have flipped Jay off if Carlito hadn't been looking right at him.

Jay laughed and started to say something snaky back but stopped when he saw something that caught his eye. "Oh boy…"

"What?" Adam looked and it took him a moment to see what Jay was seeing. When he did finally see it though, it made him shake his head in disbelief. Jeff was there with Trish and Mickie, dressed in a sexy little outfit that was getting him all kinds of looks from the people around him. "Oh my God…are you fucking kidding me? They brought him here?"

"And here I thought they were smarter than that," Jay muttered. He looked over at Chris, who was plainly gawking at Jeff. "What are you looking at?"

Chris shook his head. "Dude, he looks really hot-OW!" He looked at Jay, who had just smacked him really hard upside the head. "What was that for?"

"You're an idiot," Jay declared.

Adam barely heard any of that or the argument that started right after it. He didn't hear Carlito or Primo trying to get his attention either. His eyes were on Jeff, who waved at him and tried to come over to where he was at. Before he got too far though he was intercepted by a group of guys, who were all up on him and clearly looking to get a piece of him. He tried to get past them but they weren't letting him get through. Mickie and Trish tried to run interference but the guys practically shoved them away. Adam was already moving out from behind the bar and he really hauled ass when one of the guys actually put his hands on Jeff. _That's fucking it…_

"ADAM!" Jay yelled although it did absolutely no good. Adam grabbed the guy who was touching Jeff by the collar of his shirt and smashed his fist into his face as hard as he could. The other guys instantly jumped on him and he started swinging wildly in an attempt to remotely defend himself. Mickie and Trish were screaming, Jeff was yelling and he, Jay and Chris all jumped in the fray while Carlito yelled for security to get over there and break it up. Adam managed to hit quite a few of the guys, breaking a couple noses and blackening a couple of eyes. But then he felt something hard smash against the back of his head and he fell to the ground, feeling blood trickle from the back of his head and his vision going blurry before he lost consciousness completely.


	24. Chapter 24

"Ow…" Adam winced as he gingerly touched the back of his head. He had been forced to get it bandaged and stitched after getting it split open during the fight at the bar. It went without saying that he had lost his job over the entire incident, which sucked but it was what it was. He couldn't regret what he had done because it had been done to protect Jeff, who had gotten a shiner on his cheek during the chaos at the scene.

"Sweetheart don't do that." Jeff grabbed a hold of Adam's hand and put it back down by his side. "It'll be worse if you pick at it."

Adam pouted his lips and let out an irritated huff. "But it hurts."

"It's going to hurt more if you pick at it."

Adam let out another irritated huff. He knew Jeff was right but didn't want to admit it. "Stupid drunk assholes. I hate them all."

"I know." Jeff nestled his head against Adam's chest and played with his shirt. "I hate them too. They're mean bastards and need to go rot in hell."

Jay and Chris, who were both sitting in the living room with them, both exchanged looks. They were attempting to keep straight faces but Chris ended up snorting loudly anyway.

Adam's eyes narrowed. "What was that for?" he asked.

"Nothing," Chris quickly denied. "It's nothing we did nothing."

Adam wasn't convinced by that at all but Chris really didn't care and Jay was too busy asking Jeff the question he had been trying to get an answer to for awhile now but hadn't managed to get yet. "What exactly where you thinking going to the Cabana anyway?" He had heard for himself Adam telling Jeff over and over again not to go anywhere near there and he had thought Trish and Mickie would have known better than to take him there. "I mean really-"

"I wanted to see Adam," Jeff said defensively. He was starting to get really tired of Jay always questioning him about stuff. It was like he was just constantly looking for something bad about him and it was getting on his nerves. "Adam's always gone all night-"

"He WAS working at a bar," Jay pointed out. "He told you what the hours were going to be before he even started.

"I KNOW he did. But I wanted to see him."

"And remind me how that turned out."

"Jay!" Adam hissed angrily as Jeff scowled. "Whatever bug crawled up your ass today, kindly remove it before I do it for you."

Jay rolled his eyes. He knew that he was being a bit of a jerk but it just irritated him that Jeff had been told to not go there because it was dangerous and not only did he go, but his appearance sparked a brawl that cost Adam his job. Of course the blame couldn't go all on Jeff. Adam was at fault for just swinging away like a caveman and Trish and Mickie were to blame when they KNEW damn well that kind of people ran around there. They were lucky Jeff hadn't gotten seriously hurt or Adam probably would have gone after them too.

Chris shifted around in his seat uncomfortably. He didn't even know what to do at the moment. Adam and Jeff were both giving Jay rather angry glares and Jay didn't seem to care. Earlier when he talked to him, Jay had seemed to think that with losing this job, Adam could easily slide back into another extended unemployment slump, especially since Jeff was around and spending more time with him would be more appealing than getting a job. Chris had tried to come to Adam's defense but it had only been a half hearted attempt. For whatever reason, lately, when he had been looking at Jeff and Adam, he would get flashes of some kind of unnamed dread. It startled him because he had absolutely no idea where it was coming from and the first couple of times it had happened he had just shook it off. But now, looking at the way they were possessively clinging to each other, he just sensed…badness. Maybe it didn't exist at the moment but it would. It would eventually come and he just knew that nobody would be able to stop it.

"Chris!" Adam snapped his fingers impatiently. "What the hell are you staring at?"

Chris shook his head. "Nothing." He wasn't even going to try to explain what thoughts were going on his head. He would either be called crazy or he would end up fighting with Adam and Jeff, which had already proven itself to be more trouble than it was worth. "I'm going to get something to eat."

"I'm coming with you," Jay said, getting up right along with him. "I'm starving."

Adam and Jeff watched them go, staying quiet until they were gone. "Sorry about Jay," Adam said quickly, kissing Jeff's forehead. "He's just-"

"He hates me," Jeff concluded.

"No! He don't. He just gets pissy when I lose my job and "don't pull my weight" or whatever it is he likes to go on about." Adam nuzzled Jeff's neck. "Back when I was dating Mor, I worked at this convenience store and my boss hit on him. I beat him up and lost my job and Jay was pissy with Mor for awhile after that. Believe me, he's just an annoying dickhead when he's in the mood to be. He'll knock it off after awhile."

Jeff wasn't really convinced but he allowed Adam to think he was. "You'll get another job," he said with a nod. "You will. You'll get one and that will shut Jay right up."

Adam grinned and nodded in agreement. "Damn right." He placed a firm kiss on Jeff's lips. "There are a few things better than proving James wrong."

"And what are the few things that are better than it?" Jeff asked coyly.

Adam's grin got bigger. "How about I show you?" He got up, holding Jeff in a wedding carry and taking him off to the bedroom to do just that.

…

Three months later and Adam hadn't found a job. He tried really hard at first, he really did. He turned in tons of applications and scored some interviews, fueled on by wanting to provide for Jeff and prove Jay wrong. But as time passed and things started to not work out for him, he started getting frustrated. And in his frustration he reverted back to his habit of not trying like he should be and instead spent his time lounging around with Jeff. Jeff tried to get him to go back to trying but selfishly he liked having all of Adam's time for himself. It annoyed Jay and Chris to no end that they were the ones working their asses off while Adam contributed nothing. Jeff at least did the cleaning and cooking because that was what he did back when he lived with his family anyway.

"What are you making today?" Adam asked Jeff as he came up behind him and put his arms around his waist.

"Enchiladas," Jeff replied. Jay and Chris would be getting home very soon and that meant the both of them would have to get dressed before they got there. They had spent the majority of the day in bed, only getting up to get the pizza that they had had delivered and now to make sure dinner got made.

"Yummy." Adam placed a trail of soft kisses all over Jeff's neck and shoulder.

"Mmmm…you shouldn't do that," Jeff protested weakly.

"Why not?" Adam asked.

"Because we don't have time."

"We can make time."

"I'm in the middle of making dinner."

"It can wait a bit."

"If Jay and Chris come home and find us doing it in here they won't be happy. And you and Jay are going to fight again so-"

"Why would we fight?" Adam nibbled softly on Jeff's neck.

"Because you lied about going out and trying to get a job." Jeff turned around so he could face the older man. "He's going to be mad."

Adam let out a long sigh. "I know…but you wanted to stay in."

Jeff's face twitched a bit. "YOU were the one that said you were going to go out and do it."

"I wanted you to go with me though," Adam said in his own defense. This was one of the things that drove all his friends up the wall. They loved him to pieces but they hated the fact that he always tried to shift responsibility for his bad habits on to anyone or anything else around him. Chris called it a "chronic case of irresponsible ass clonwness" and at the moment, Jeff was suddenly so irritated with Adam that he would full heartedly agree with him.

"You don't need me to go with you to go find a job," Jeff pointed out. "You can do that on your own."

"You don't think I haven't been trying?"

"Not very much no."

"You haven't been complaining!"

Jeff shook his head. "I know but…Adam why did you tell him that you were going to do it if you weren't?"

"Well I was planning on it," Adam said, shoving his hands into his pocket and shrugging his shoulders. "But then you know it just uh…it just didn't happen."

"Jay's not going to like that," Jeff said as he shook his head. "And Chris won't either. They're going to get mad then you'll fight and then you'll be upset and I don't want that."

Adam knew Jeff didn't and he ran his hand through his hair. "I have tried. But even if I find something I'll probably just lose it real soon anyway."

"Yeah with that attitude you definitely will." Jeff grabbed Adam and gave him a bit of a shake. "You need to think positive. Positive positive positive!"

Adam smiled a bit. "Positive huh?"

"Mhm. Or if that don't work, I can go out and get a job and you stay here and take care of the house."

"No no no. No. No way. Remember what I said? I'm the one that's going to take care of you. Plus I suck at cooking and cleaning. Remember the other day when I tried it."

"…Baby you said you were going to do it and then played Arkham Asylum the entire day."

"…Oh yeah…whoops. My bad"

…

A few days later Adam actually got a job at one of the nearby grocery stores, an interview for which he had had a couple weeks prior and thought he had fucked up. In true Adam fashion though, he literally only stayed employed for a month. He rubbed one of the managers the wrong way and he sassed back to one too many rude customers and that had been it. He had been fired and there had been very little sympathy from everyone but Jeff.

"How many times do you need to be told to keep your dumb mouth shut?" Roddy asked in exasperation. Adam and Jeff had gone to Piper's Pit to meet up see him and also to meet up with Mickie, Trish, Amy, James and Cooper. Jay was too exasperated with Adam to even speak to him and Chris was off at a gig with his band.

Adam folded his arms over his chest and shook his head. "I really don't think I need a lecture right now. Jay gives me enough shit as it is."

"I can't say I blame him," Mickie said bluntly. "This isn't _Clerks._ You can't get away with being rude to the customers."

Jeff frowned and gave her a confused look. "What the hell is _Clerks_?"

"Kevin Smith movie," Trish explained. "We'll watch it later."

"Okay." Jeff went back to happily sipping his Coke through a straw. He had wanted a rum and Coke but Roddy absolutely refused to give him that.

"They were all just so bitchy though!" Adam whined. "I mean really, it was ridiculous! I couldn't take it. I'm better off without that stupid job anyway."

"Don't you say that every time you get fired?" Cooper asked.

Adam gave him a dirty look. "I don't even want to hear anything from you. You freeload off your dad-"

"But it can be afforded," Cooper shot back. "Dad owns the biggest porn company in this country. He can take care of all of us here for our entire lives if he wanted to. You do not have any such benefactor waiting in the wings."

"Of course you could always just come and be in another one of my movies," James said with a shrug. "That's-"

Jeff promptly choked on his drink and looked back and forth between James and Adam incredulously. "What?"

James blinked innocently as Adam glared at him. "He didn't know?"

"No," Adam said. "He didn't."

"Uh…sorry?"

Roddy shook his head as Jeff looked to Adam for an explanation. "Lucy, you've got some explaining to do…"

Trish raised her eyebrows and shook her head. "I don't think Adam finds that funny right now."

"I do though. And that's all that matters to me."


	25. Chapter 25

Adam chewed on his lip nervously as he did everything in his power to avoid Jeff's gaze. They were on their way home and he hadn't said much since James had revealed Adam's one time porn endeavor. Jeff was not about to let it go. He wanted answers and he wanted them right away. Jay and Chris kept giving him looks from the front seat, clearly telling him with their eyes that he should just tell the story already. The cat was out of the bag there was no point in hiding it. Even with that in mind though, he didn't want to get into it. It wasn't exactly something he was proud of. He hadn't been ashamed of doing it at the time but now it wasn't something he had ever wanted to share with Jeff. _Stupid James and his big mouth. This is all his fault._

"Adam?" Jeff's voice was starting to show how irritated he was getting with the lack of answers he was receiving.

"Just hit him," Chris encouraged. "That should get him to talk."

Jay frowned at him. "Isn't that promoting domestic violence?"

"Well Jeff don't have to hit him hard," Chris said as he mulled that one over. "He can just slap him into talking."

Jeff looked way more tempted about that than he should have. "Why won't you just talk about it Adam? Do you have some super secret porn star life you've been keeping from me all this time?"

"What? No!" Adam shook his head vehemently. "Of course not."

"Then what the hell is the story Adam?" Jeff folded his arms over his chest and gave Adam an impatient look. "Just _tell_ me. I just want to know-"

"I needed money, okay?" Adam was trying not to sound snappish but he couldn't help it. "Rent was due, I didn't have a job and I got the offer and I did it. Not my proudest moment-"

"Not your proudest moment?" Chris turned his head back and looked at Adam incredulously. "Dude, you got to fuck AJ Swallows and The Humpback Kid! How was that not-OW!" He had just gotten a really hard elbow to the ribs from Jay and he looked at his lover unhappily. "What was that for?"

"You just need to shut up," Jay informed him.

"But-"

"Can it Chris!" Adam kicked the back of Chris's seat as hard as he could before looking back at Jeff. "It was a one time thing that happened before I met you." He brushed back a stray piece of Jeff's hair and tucked it behind his ear. "It's not something I'll ever do again."

"Why didn't you just tell me?" Jeff asked as he rested his head back against the seat. "I only just asked you a hundred-"

Adam looked down at his lap and shrugged his shoulders. "I just…I just like…feel ashamed that you know that's what I actually resorted to once."

"On the bright side though, at least he didn't hock his ass on the street," Chris said brightly. He could just not mind his own business no matter how much he needed to. "That would have just led to a rather unfortunate disease."

"…." Adam tried to say something to that but he couldn't. What could he even say anyway? So he just ignored Chris and nuzzled his face against Jeff's. "Are you mad at me?"

Jeff slowly shook his head. "No I'm not mad."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah." Jeff gave Adam a soft kiss on the lips. "I'm sure."

Adam let out a soft sigh of relief and kissed Jeff harder. "I love you."

"I love you too Addy."

…

Later that night, Jeff found himself unable to sleep. He tossed and turned over and over again in bed, trying to force himself to fall to sleep but not able to do it. Finally he just gave up and got out of bed, slipping on a pair of his boxers so he could go out to the kitchen and get himself a glass of water. He wanted the sleeplessness to just be because of restlessness but he knew that wasn't the case. He couldn't get his mind off the information he learned earlier. Adam had been in a porno. It was bothering him much more than he had dared to let on. He had been trying to just brush it off. It hadn't meant anything. It had just been done for money. But despite that, it still bothered him.

Adam being so reluctant to tell him about it definitely had something to do it. Sure he understood his boyfriend not bringing it up on his own. He really did. But then, once it came out in the open, Adam still acted like he had something to hide. If it was just a one time thing that would never happen again then why act like a complete deer in headlights for so long? It raised some doubts in him that he didn't want to be there and also served to just make him feel insecure.

Back at home, he had been considered a lot more "experienced" than his other classmates. Sure Phil had been his first in terms of actual sex, but he had done quite a bit of stuff with other boys. But now, with Adam, he felt so much more inexperienced than he had ever felt before. And it was a feeling he did not like at all.

He drank his glass of water and then put it in the sink, contemplating going right back to bed for a second but then going to the computer instead. He turned it on and got on to Google so he could look up the names Chris had said in the car. There was a large part of him that was telling himself not to do this. This wasn't going to do anything to help. Hell it would probably just make it worse. But despite those misgivings he looked up the information anyway. And of course, what he found didn't do anything to make him feel better. The Humpback Kid Shawn Michaels was a legend in the gay porn industry and AJ Swallows was actually someone he had seen quite a few movies of (he generally didn't pay attention to porn star's names so that was why that piece of information didn't hit him until he saw the guy's pictures.

"Shit…" Jeff started to bite at his thumbnail. Adam's last boyfriend was the absolutely gorgeous Mor and now these two…he shook his head and shut the computer back off before getting up and going to the bathroom to stare at his reflection in the mirror. With a critical eye, he saw that his hair needed to be dyed again, his skin was too pale to really be attractive and he had ugly giant bags under his eyes. "Fuck fuck fuck." In the morning he would have to re-dye his hair and try to get his hands on some of that spray tan shit. He wasn't sure what to do with the bags under his eyes beyond going back to bed and hoping they would go away with some sleep. If they didn't, he would have to either get back on the computer and see if there was anything that he could do or ask Trish and Mickie. They would know what to do.

…

Weeks went by. Adam tried to find another job although like usual, it was hard to get himself truly motivated. Jobs and him just were a bad bad mix. The world would be much better if he didn't have to work to get money and make a living but unfortunately, unless he won the lottery or got money from some unknown rich relative, he was stuck with that unsatisfactory bitch of a situation.

A couple of weeks after the porno revelation, Jay pointed it out to him that Jeff seemed to be paying a lot more closer attention to his appearance than he had before. Adam hadn't believed him until he accidentally walked in on Jeff touching up his roots even though they were barely even showing and putting some spray tanner on himself. That had surprised him quite a bit but he didn't say too much about it. For one, he didn't want Jay finding out that he now was aware he was right. He couldn't stomach Jay's victory dance because it was just so obnoxious. And secondly, Jeff seemed perfectly happy doing what he was doing so why make a big deal out of it? He saw no reason for it.

One afternoon, after an unsuccessful morning of job hunting, Adam came home to find Chris and Jay playing video games on the couch. "Jeff?" he called out, intending to just ignore those two so he could be with his boyfriend.

"He's not here," Jay informed him.

"Where is he?"

"Trish and Mickie picked him up awhile ago. You were supposed to be gone all day so they wanted to have some girl time."

Adam frowned at that. "But Jeff's a guy." He grabbed himself a Coke from the fridge and plopped down on the chair.

"Yeah well, apparently he's still one of the girls," Jay said with a shrug. His eyes were glued to the screen since he and Chris were playing a wrestling video game and like it usually was when they played, the match they were doing was a ladder match. "Don't ask me the logic on that one. I didn't want to get into it with them."

"He's pretty like a girl." Of course Chris had to add his two cents in. That was all he was really ever good at. "Are you sure he doesn't have a vagina on him somewhere?"

"I'm sure," Adam assured him.

"Are you absolutely positively sure?"

"Yes. Believe me, if there was one on him I would have found it by now."

"What if it like only comes out during the full moon?"

"…_What?_"

Jay rolled his eyes and elbowed Chris in the ribs. "Ignore him. He's an idiot."

"Am not!" Chris denied with a loud whine. "Fuck you're always mean to me! Why are you mean what did I ever do to you?"

"Do I really have to list it all?"

"Oh fuck you! You're SO lucky I don't leave your ass."

"Oh come on now. You know you would be lost without me."

"Would not."

"Would too."

"Would not you parasite."

"Ooooh now we're busting out the big words? I'm hurt Chris. Really hurt."

Adam rolled his eyes at his friends' banter. They could go on like this for hours. Sometimes it was entertaining but today was not one of those days he found it to be so. He was about to get up and go to his and Jeff's room so he could call Jeff and see what was going on when Jeff, Trish and Mickie all walked in through the front door. "Jeff!" He got up to his feet and happily bounded over to his boyfriend. "Just who I wanted to see."

Jeff laughed as Adam actually picked him up and spun him around as they hugged. "Hey babe what-" His face suddenly shifted into a frown. "_You_ are supposed to be job hunting."

Jay snickered as Adam rushed to explain himself. "I know babe, I know. And I'll go back out, I promise. I just came home to get something to eat." He knew the others wouldn't believe that but he didn't care what they believed. He just needed Jeff to believe him. "It's hard work getting a job."

"Not for Jeff it wasn't," Mickie said as her and Trish took over the chair that Adam had been sitting in.

Adam frowned at her. "What do you mean?"

"I got a job," Jeff said, which made Jay pause the game so he and Chris could look at him with interest.

"You did? On your face day out? Ha!" Jay shook his head at Adam. "Dude, all your efforts look like one big fail now."

Adam ignored that comment and looked at Jeff in confusion. "You got a job?"

"Yep," Jeff said with a nod. "I'm now the newest employee at Black Widows Pizza Parlor."

"But I told you that you didn't need to get a job," Adam reminded him. "I told you I would take care of you. You-"

"I know you said that babe," Jeff said, suddenly shifting his eyes away uncomfortably. "But since you're having trouble holding a job down, I thought I'd just take this up until you can find something permanent."

"Which will never happen," Chris stated bluntly. "Adam's hopeless. You signed yourself up to a lifetime of supporting his ass Jeffey."

A bunch of glares were shot his way, the biggest one coming from Adam himself.

"What? What did I say?"


	26. Chapter 26

The good news about Jeff having a job was that he and Adam now had a source of income. The bad news was, Jeff did not enjoy it the least little bit, which made it hard to get through each of his shifts. They pretty much had him do anything but make the pizzas themselves. Busing the tables, taking orders, cleaning, making deliveries-that was all him. Honestly, it really wasn't that bad. Victoria, the woman that ran it, seemed to like him so that was good. Her boyfriend (well Jeff thought he was her boyfriend…he couldn't quite tell what the hell was going on between those two) Steven Richards was goofy as hell but he didn't actually bother Jeff so it was alright. Torrie Wilson, Madison Rayne and Kenny Dykstra were the only other people he saw working there on a regular basis and he avoided Madison and Kenny as much as he possibly could. She was a bitch and he was a total jackass. So he stuck with Torrie when he could, even though they didn't exchange much more than polite conversation. At first she had been really friendly but then he mentioned Adam being his boyfriend and he could literally see her deflate before his eyes. He (rightly) guessed she had been developing a crush on him and finding out he was gay disappointed her. She was only sixteen so having a crush like that killed was the end of her world.

The exact reason he was so unhappy at the job eluded him. Sure it wasn't what he wanted to do really but it was money. Back in Cameron, he sometimes made money by doing landscaping work but he hadn't been able to find anything for that around here. This at least was a steady paycheck and he got free pizza out of the deal. But still he found himself dreading to go to work and beyond happy when he got to go home or he had a day off. He finally just concluded that it was just because it was work. Lots of people hated their jobs, even if they really weren't worth hating. It was just how the system worked.

"Come on Jeff! Please? Come on dude, don't be a twat-"

"A twat?" Jeff repeated as he gave Chris an irritated look. He was trying to clean off tables but it was hard to get anything done with Chris following him around like a begging puppy. "You seriously just called me a twat?"

"I told you not to be a twat. There's a difference."

Jeff rolled his eyes. He was going to smack the hell out of Chris when he got home later. "Look man, we've been over this a thousand times now. I can't just give you free pizza. That's not how it works."

"But you bring home free pizza all the time!"

"And it's for _me_ because _I_ work here. I just happen to be nice and let you and Jay have pieces. That doesn't mean I can actually give you a free pizza."

"You can send me home with your pizza then," Chris said quickly. "For safe keeping."

Jeff snorted at that. "Come on dude. How stupid do you really think I am? I'll never see the pizza again if I do that."

"Maybe not but you'll have the joy of feeding me."

Jeff had to stop and count to ten in his head so he could keep resisting the urge to smack Chris. "Forget it. Go bug Jay or something. I've got work to do."

"You suck. I'm telling Adam on you."

"Go ahead. He'll side with me anyway so it won't matter anyway."

Chris faltered as he realized that Jeff was right. "Fuck," he muttered. He ran a hand through his long blonde hair and shook his head unhappily. "Never mind. I'm telling Jay."

"Fine. Whatever makes you happy man." Jeff tried to go back to finishing up with the tables because Madison's calling in "sick" antics had pissed off Victoria and he wasn't looking to add fuel to the fire. Chris wasn't taking the hint to go away though. He sat down at the table Jeff was trying to clean and smacked his palms on the surface to get Jeff's attention back on him.

"Adam's got an interview today."

"He does? Why didn't he tell me?"

"I think he wanted to surprise you."

"Well why did you tell me then?"

"…Because I did?" Chris shrugged and leaned back a bit. "I don't even know what it's for. I just heard him and Jay talking about it a bit." He nodded a bit before switching topics. "Now get me my free pizza."

The look Jeff gave him was one of pure venom and Chris realized he had gone too far on his quest to be a pain in the ass. "I'm gonna go," he announced before getting up and leaving as fast as he could. Jeff muttered "finally" under his breath and Torrie, who had been watching them from over by the cash register, came over to investigate what had just gone on. "Who was that?"

Jeff shook his head. "Just a friend of my boyfriend's."

"Oh. Was he like, hitting on you or something?"

Jeff almost dropped the plates he was picking up to take to the back. "What? No. No no no. He just wanted to get free pizza out of me and didn't know how to take "no" for an answer."

"Oh." She looked somewhat embarrassed about being wrong about that and quickly changed the subject. "Are you working Friday night?"

"Not unless they ask me to come in," he replied. "What about you?"

She shook her head. "I asked for it off. My friend Stacy's having this party at her house since her parents are out of town. Pretty much everyone is invited. Even if you're not like in school with us or anything."

That was a hint that she wanted him to go and he internally cringed. Not only was it not as subtle as she thought it was but now he had to let her down without hurting her feelings. Or at least try to anyway. "I'm actually probably going to be doing something with Adam that night. But thanks so." He headed to the back with the dishes he was holding, not even taking a look at the disappointed expression he knew was on her face. She was nice and everything but not only did he have no desire to go to a party where he knew pretty much nobody else, but he didn't want to encourage her. She still seemed to have her crush on him and he was being as careful as he could to make sure that died once and for all. She would be much better off for it.

"Jeff!" Victoria suddenly yelling his name startled him out of his thoughts and he dropped the plates in surprise. He winced as they crashed to the floor and he winced even more when he heard Victoria groan loudly.

"Jeff-"

"Sorry," he said quickly. "I'm sorry." He reached out for the broom and dust pan she was already grabbing. "I'll clean it up."

Victoria shook her head and waved him off. "I've got it. You have some deliveries to make."

"I thought Kenny was doing them today?"

"He was going to until he nearly wrecked the damn van. Now you're on delivery duty." She reached into her pocket and handed him the van keys. "Stevie's got the pizzas ready for you. Don't get in a wreck."

Jeff nodded and went to go find Stevie. Getting in a wreck was the last thing on his mind, especially when it was Victoria's van. If he ever did get in a wreck in it, he would run as far away as he possibly could. Getting charged with a hit and run would be better than facing an angry Victoria.

…

The interview Adam had that day didn't result in him getting a job, but the one a week and a half later did. It was at the video game store out at the mall. Chris and Jay of course started the campaign to get free video games but a good hard smack from Adam stopped that…for the most part. Adam himself didn't even get free shit. He got discounts though which was nice. And it was within walking distance of Black Widows Pizza so on his breaks he could go over and see Jeff. Jeff was keeping his job at the pizza place in case Adam lost his job again but he was working really hard on not doing that again. It helped that he actually liked this job. During the weekdays it really wasn't busy at all. He could kick back and read magazines until shit picked up. It was pretty damn sweet.

"You should totally start working there with me," Adam said one day as he and Jeff ate lunch together. They were both on their break and were up at Taco Bell. "We can sit around all day-" he stopped as Jeff snorted. "What?"

"You and I both know there's only one way us working together would end," Jeff said. "And that's with lots and lots of fucking."

"…True." Adam nodded and took a bite of his taco. He had to concede that point to Jeff.

"And I don't think the boss would like that."

"No. Unfortunately not. Damn prude." Adam pouted and Jeff smirked before leaning across the table and kissing him. Adam deepened the kiss and they made out for about a minute before Jeff broke the kiss and sat back down to go back to his food.

"Randy wants us all to go out to that new club that's opening Friday."

"Does he?"

"Mhm."

"Are we going?"

"If you want."

Jeff frowned, seeing an automatic problem with this plan. "I'm only eighteen, remember? I can't get into a club."

Adam grinned, already knowing the solution to that. "Randy says he knows the guy at the door. We should be able to get you without a problem."

Jeff nodded along to that. "Okay. Sounds good." He reached over and snagged a chip from Adam and dipped it in his cheese.

"Hey!"

"What?"

"You have your own."

"So? It tastes much better when it's yours." Jeff grinned at him cheekily before taking another chip and popping it into his mouth.

Adam's eyes narrowed. A smirk started to spread across his lips as he snatched Jeff's burrito and took a big bite of it.

"Hey!"

"What?"

"That's mine!"

"So? It tastes much better when it's yours." Adam's smirk got extra big at getting to use Jeff's own words against him.

"You're an ass."

"Yet you love me anyway."

"True…" Jeff acted like he was going to go back to eating his own food before snatching Adam's taco and running off with it.

"Hey!"

"Victory is mine!"

Adam rolled his eyes as Jeff literally ran out the door with it. "Oh you're gonna get it…"

…

On Friday night Randy picked up Jeff, Adam, Jay and Chris and took them to meet Ted and Cody at the club. They put Jeff in the middle of them and he did his best to look as inconspicuous as possible as Randy got them in. Thanks to Randy he now had his own fake I.D., which was sitting deep in his pocket. He was holding on to Adam's hand and his grip tightened as they went inside and the blaring music reached their ears. The place was already crowded though there weren't very many people out on the dance floor yet. Most of the people were hanging out by the bar. Jeff thought that was where they were going to go first but then Randy led them to a table over by the wall instead. "Who's going to get the drinks?" Cody asked.

"I'll go," Jay said. He grabbed Chris by the arm and started dragging him along. "You're coming with."

Chris loudly protested being dragged along but it was ignored by Jay and everyone else. Adam sat down first and Jeff quickly sat next to him. Cody and Ted sat down on Jeff's side while Randy sat on Adam's side, leaving the two spaces between him and Ted for Chris and Jay. "What do you guys think?" Randy asked.

Adam shrugged. "I don't know. We just got here." He leaned back in his chair a bit and looked around. "It looks like any other place we've ever been to."

Randy rolled his eyes at that. "What do you think Jeff?"

"I'm not really digging the music," Jeff admitted. "It just sounds like noise."

"It's great to dance to though," Ted said. "Like you can do this-" He started doing the Party Boy right at the table, ignoring the way Cody scooted away from him in embarrassment "all freaking night to this beat."

"But why would you want to?" Cody asked.

"Because it's better than whatever retarded dance moves you bust out when we go out."

"It is not."

"It is too."

"Is not!"

"Is too and you know it!"

They continued to bicker like that until Chris and Jay came back with the drinks. That thankfully shut them up. The drink of choice was tequila, which didn't exactly thrill Jeff. He thought it tasted like shit. Then again, pretty much all alcohol tasted like shit to him so what did it matter? He was drinking it just the same. By the time he got to the fifth shot, he was completely used to the taste and rapidly losing the ability to be able to keep track of what he was drinking. At one point the tequila bottle was replaced with a vodka one and he barely noticed. He just kept right on drinking and nobody was telling him to slow down. They were drinking even faster than he was. Adam especially was getting extra smashed and Jeff eventually got up and pulled him up to his feet. "Come on," he ordered, nearly falling over as he attempted to walk. "I want to dance."

Adam downed one last shot before getting up and following Jeff out to the dance floor. Jeff led them out to the middle and began moving his body, not even paying attention to the song or the beat. He was more focused on grinding his body against Adam's, which was something Adam was more than happy to respond to. The multicolored disco lights were shining down on them and people were starting to dance around them, having also been loosened up by alcohol.

Adam's hands started out on Jeff's hips but quickly slid up under the mesh shirt he was wearing. Jeff grinded his ass even more into Adam's crotch, reaching back with one hand to grab at Adam's hair. Adam's lips latched on to Jeff's neck, kissing and sucking on the skin. Their dancing was rapidly becoming more and more like foreplay. Jeff could feel Adam's hardness pressing against him and he turned himself around and wrapped his arms around Adam's neck. Neither one of them had to say a word. They just looked at each other for a moment before heading off the dance floor. They didn't know where the nearest bathroom was so they stumbled around for a little longer than they intended to. When they finally found it they walked in and headed to the nearest stall…to the soundtrack of women's screams.

"Oh fuck…" Jeff said as his entire face turned red.

Adam blinked and shook his head slowly. It was taking his drunk brain longer to process the mistake they had just made. "I think…I think we went the wrong way."

"Get OUT!" one of the women screamed at them. "Get out get out get OUT!"

They put their hands up in surrender and bailed out of there as fast as they could. They didn't even try to find the men's room. They just stumbled back to their now empty table and exchanged looks before busting up in laughter.


	27. Chapter 27

A couple months went by and things had settled into a pretty good pattern. With the both of them working Adam and Jeff were finally able to get their own place. It wasn't anything too big. Just a two bedroom apartment not too far away from Adam's job. Some of their neighbors were definitely questionable looking but it was the first place they could find where the rent wasn't absolutely outrageous. It was just a starter place anyway. Once they got even more money saved up they would get a place that was nicer.

A week after they settled in their new place winter decided to come early and give them a good foot of snow just to be an asshole. That posed a pretty big problem for the both of them because the parking lot to their apartment was up on a hill. A very steep hill that they hadn't thought about how bad of a bitch it was gonna be to get down. Three people in cars nearly killed themselves getting down it and that made Adam very very nervous.

"Just call in sick to work," he told Jeff as he got ready to go. He had the day off himself and he was trying to get Jeff just to stay home as well. "It's too dangerous to try to drive right now."

"I _have_ to go to work though," Jeff argued. "I have an eight hour shift today. If I don't work today we're not going to have enough money to pay the rent next week."

"And if you crash right now you're not going to be able to work for who knows how long," Adam countered. "Now how will that help us?"

"I'm NOT gonna crash," Jeff said stubbornly. "I'm gonna be fine. Quit worrying so much."

"I wouldn't be so worried if I hadn't seen everyone killing themselves just to get out of here. I hate this fucking parking lot."

"So do I but there's nothing we can do about it." Jeff gave Adam a kiss on the cheek to try to reassure him. "Just relax. I'll be fine." He kissed him again and then left and Adam just shook his head. He just had a bad feeling about this. Jeff wasn't exactly known for amazing driving skills (neither was he for that matter) and this just seemed to be a real disaster in the making.

"God damn it Jeff…" Adam quickly got his boots out from under the table and slipped them on so he could chase after Jeff. "Jeff!" He hadn't even put on his coat so his teeth started to chatter as soon as he got outside. "Jeff!" Jeff was already pulling out as Adam tried to make his way down the back stairs. "Jeff wait!"

Jeff didn't wait. He went right ahead and went down the hill. Adam started to run after him but slipped on the ice, scraping up his hands when he used them to catch himself. By the time he got himself straightened up he heard the squeal of the brakes and then a loud crash that made his heart turn cold inside of his chest. "Jeff!" He started running again, this time managing not to fall. "Jeff!" He got around the corner and his heart sank at what he saw. Jeff had clearly hit a patch of ice on his way down and flew right out into the street and got hit by an oncoming car that hadn't stopped in time. "Oh fuck me…" He started running once again, not giving a shit if he slipped and totally killed himself going down the hill. "Jeff! JEFF!"

…

"How are you doin'?" Jay asked a couple hours later as he and Chris entered Jeff's hospital room. Jeff's arm was in a cast and there were some bruises on the side of his head and a few stitches. His ribs were also wrapped up but they couldn't see that underneath his hospital gown.

"Gooooood," Jeff replied. He held up his hand so they could see where the morphine drip was hooked in. "I was bad but I'm goooood now."

Chris smirk as he sat down across from Adam. "You're drugged."

"Mhmmmmmmmm. And I liiiiiiiiiike it."

Adam just shook his head. Jeff was enjoying the morphine just a little TOO much but he wasn't going to say anything about it right now. He was too busy kicking his own ass over the situation. He shouldn't have let Jeff leave the apartment. When they were fighting about it he should have fought harder. He should have just made Jeff stay home with him. If he had none of this would have happened.

Jay could tell that something was bothering Adam but he tried not to say anything in front of Chris and Jeff. Instead he tried to get Adam to come over to the corner with him so they could talk quietly but Adam ignored him. He just took Jeff's hand in his and held it gently. Jeff was muttering incoherently under his breath and his head was drooping down to the side. He was passing out again and Adam tried to gently shake him back away. It was no use though. Jeff was out once more and Adam sighed and kissed his forehead softly. _Sorry babe…_

…

Jeff was in the hospital for a couple more days before getting released. He wasn't going to be able to work for awhile so there went any hope in paying the rent next week. Adam's last paycheck had gone to the gas bill and the groceries and he wouldn't get paid again until a couple of weeks from now. He was going to have to try to talk to their landlord if they could get away with paying the rent late. Larry seemed to like them so that was a possibility. Either way though, they had a bigger problem on their hands in the form of medical bills. They had no insurance so it was all on them to pay the bills off. How they were going to do that he had no idea. He would ask Jeff if he had an idea but he didn't want to bother him with it. Jeff hadn't been doing much of anything since the accident. He mostly just laid in bed and watched TV, a can of Mountain Dew and his bottle of pain pills near him. He was taking them every six hours or whatever it was that he was allowed to take them. Adam did question him a bit about how often he was taking them but he absolutely insisted he was in too much pain otherwise. Adam accepted it at first because he didn't want to fight but eventually, it started to bother him. And since he couldn't go to Jeff obviously he went to Jay's house on the way home from work to discuss it.

"You think he's getting addicted?" Jay asked. He had just gotten home from work and was changing. Chris was still gone so Adam had kicked back on the bed and was talking to Jay as he changed. They had seen each other naked more times than they could even remember it was no big deal.

"Maybe…I don't know." Adam shrugged helplessly. "I might just be being paranoid. He is taking them on schedule, not like he's just popping them every five minutes."

"But is he even trying to function without them?"

"…He's says in too much pain…"

Jay sighed and finished putting on his pants. "He's gonna have to at least _try_ at some point. Those pills aren't going to last forever."

"I know. I just don't know how to make him see that. He's stubborn."

"So be _more_ stubborn. I mean damn Adam, this shit isn't a joke. If he does get addicted-"

"He won't. I won't let him."

"If you want to do that, you gotta stop him _now_. Otherwise, you won't have control of this shit."

"Right…" Adam rolled off the bed and nodded his head. "Okay. I'll go talk to him. Thanks man."

"Any time."

…

Jeff groaned as he carefully shifted positions on the bed. He had gotten up to go to the bathroom and now he wished he hadn't had to do that. Now he couldn't get comfortable and the pain in his ribs were flaring up despite the fact that he had taken a pill for the pain already. Anything he did really made them hurt. And when they hurt it felt like he couldn't breathe right and that just made shit worse. He needed the pills just to make shit easier on him until he got better-which hopefully would be soon.

He adjusted himself carefully again and tried to focus on the TV. He had been watching Sponebob for the past two hours since Nickelodian was being kind enough to show an all day marathon of it. As hard as he tried though, he just couldn't concentrate. He was too uncomfortable. "Damn it…" he winced and looked at the clock. It was still several hours before it was time to take another one. He didn't think he could wait that long. He tried once again to turn his attention back to the TV but after another few minutes he caved and grabbed the pill bottle. Just taking one extra couldn't hurt.

…

"Jeff?" Adam called out Jeff's name as soon as he got into the apartment and got no response. "Jeffro?" He put the keys on the counter and walked towards the bedroom. He could hear the sound of Sponebob coming from behind the closed door and smiled a little bit. "Jeffro?" He opened the door and found Jeff sound asleep. "Awww Jeff…" He walked over to the TV to shut it off and then went over to the bed. Jeff's chest was rising and falling slowly and steadily and as Adam leaned down to give him a kiss he snored loudly. "Love ya too sweetheart," Adam whispered with a smirk. He kissed Jeff's forehead and stood back up. His eyes were drawn down to the pill bottle that was nearby and his conversation with Jay came back into his head. Part of him was stubbornly insisting that he believe in Jeff and just drop the subject but the rational part of him couldn't.

_It wouldn't hurt to check_, he told himself as he grabbed the bottle and opened it. He had Jeff's pill schedule memorized so he knew how many should be in there. He poured the pills into his hand and began to count them quickly. One was missing…he frowned and counted them again. One was still missing. _Shit…_he looked at Jeff who was still fast asleep. He had no idea when Jeff had taken an extra one but he wasn't going to let that happen again. He put the rest of the pills back in the bottle, put the cap back on it and took it with him as he left the room. It was time to put these away out of such close reach.


	28. Chapter 28

When Jeff finally woke up and rolled out of bed his mind felt extremely muddled and fuzzy. He had absolutely no idea how long he had been out for and he really just wanted to go back to sleep. The need to use the bathroom though overrode his sleepiness and he stumbled into it, taking a moment to rest his forehead against the cool wall and regain his bearings before going on with his business. When he was done he tried to just go back to bed but found Adam standing there in his path. "Addy?" He wrapped his arms around his boyfriend's neck and planted a sloppy kiss on his lips. "Hey Addy." He kissed Adam some more, frowning a bit when he noticed that Adam wasn't kissing him back. "I wanna go back to bed."

"Noooo." Adam shook his head and stopped Jeff from trying to go back to the bedroom. "We have to talk."

"About what?"

Adam didn't immediately answer him. Instead he took Jeff's hand and led him to the living room, sitting him down in the chair before sitting down on the couch across from him. The look in his boyfriend's eyes was helping to pull him out of the fog that he had still been in. He was suddenly being reminded of how his dad and Matt always looked at him before they launched into a lecture, which was not something he wanted to be reminded of. "Adam?" He shifted uncomfortably in his seat as Adam let out a worried sigh. "What is it?"

"I'm worried about you," Adam finally said. "Ever since the accident, you haven't been right."

"Well yeah," Jeff said with a shrug. "I got fucked up pretty badly. I'm not gonna exactly bounce right back from it."

"That's the problem though. You're not even _trying_ to bounce back. All you do is lay in bed and take your pain medication. You haven't even tried to go without them."

"Because it fucking hurts!" Jeff said, his voice rising a bit as he got on the defensive. "It fucking hurts okay? I'm glad you care and all but you're worrying about nothing."

"Am I?" Shit. Had had a knowing tone to his voice which wasn't a good thing. He had Jeff trapped on something and Jeff had no idea what it was. "Am I really? If that's the case, why do you have less pills in your bottle than you should have?"

Jeff felt himself freeze up at that question. "What are you talking about?" _Play innocent,_ he told himself. _Just play innocent. _That was a lot easier said than done though. Adam knew him better than anyone else ever had and had the capability of seeing right through him.

"I counted your pills while you were asleep-"

"You did _what?_" Jeff said incredulously, his body straightening up and leaning forwards in the chair. "Why would you do that?"

"Because I was afraid that you were abusing the pills," Adam replied honestly. "

"But I'm not!"

"Then why is there a pill missing?"

"I dropped it! And it was all covered in dust and shit so I threw it away!"

Adam almost looked like he was buying that-key word being almost. "Jeff…I don't want to fight. I'm just worried, okay? This shit is a slippery slope."

"But I'm _fine_." Jeff got up off the chair and sat down next to Adam. "Really." He took Adam's hand in his own and squeezed it tightly. He was touched that Adam was concerned but he wanted to just settle this matter as fast as possible. This wasn't what Adam thought it was. He wasn't becoming addicted to the pills. Yes he had been taking them pretty regularly but that didn't mean he was getting addicted. It just meant that he needed them. "I'm fine babe. Really. I'm just fine." He saw that Adam was about to say something and cut him off with a kiss instead. Adam tried to pull back at first but quickly gave in and kissed him back. They made out for a few minutes before Jeff reluctantly broke apart from him and got up to his feet. "Where are you going?" Adam asked as he tried to pull Jeff back down to him.

"Shower," Jeff replied. "I'm starting to feel gross."

Adam smirked playfully. "Oh so _you're_ the odor I've been smelling. And here I thought I tracked something in."

Jeff rolled his eyes and slapped Adam upside his head. "Asshole."

"You love me."

Jeff couldn't deny that one. He just leaned down and kissed the top of Adam's head before going into their room so he could grab himself a clean change of clothes. As he was doing that, he took a glance at his bedside table. For some reason he thought something was missing but he wasn't paying enough attention to actually know what it was. He tried to just push it to the back of his mind and he finished grabbing his clothes. He was about to leave the room when the voice in the back of his head told him to look back and take another glance at the table. This time he paid more attention and realized that his bottle of pain pills was gone.

"What the fuck?" he muttered under his breath. He went over to the desk and checked behind it to see if the bottle had fallen. It wasn't back there. He got down on his hands and knees to see if it had fallen under the bed. It wasn't under there either though. _What the fuck…Adam._ Adam had to have taken them. He set his jaw tightly and thought about going out there and asking them where they were, only to realize that he really couldn't. He had just gotten done with putting Adam to ease. If he went out there and asked him where it was it was only going to cause a fight. He was going to have to just keep his mouth shut and find out where it was when Adam wasn't paying attention.

…

"Shit shit mother fucker," Adam said under his breath as he found himself once again stuck on this level. It was a few hours after his conversation with Jeff and he was playing one of his Spiderman video games. He always got stuck at certain parts because he wasn't quite the video game genius he wanted to be. It didn't help that he had consumed more than a few shots of whiskey. They had run out of beer so he had brought out the heavier stuff. It was fantastic for getting his buzz on but it did nothing for his video game playing ability. "Jeff!" He threw down his controller in frustration. "Jeff! Can you help me?" He pushed himself up to his feet and snagged the whiskey bottle off the coffee table. "Jeff?" He could hear Jeff in the other room but he wasn't actually getting a response from his boyfriend. "Jeff where are you?"

He heard a loud crash come from the kitchen. "Jeff?" He went into the room and saw that the younger man was practically tearing the room apart. "What the fuck are you doing?" he asked incredulously.

Jeff didn't answer him right away. He was too focused on whatever it was he was doing. His body was starting to break out in a light sweat and his eyes looked somewhat wild as he continued trying to tear the entire kitchen apart. "Jeff!" Adam said, raising his voice to finally force Jeff to look at him. "What the fuck are you doing?"

"Looking for something," Jeff replied. He only gave Adam the briefest of looks before resuming his search.

"What is it?" Adam asked. "I could help."

Jeff didn't answer him, which made him scowl. He knew what it was now. The pills. The fucking fucking pills. "You don't need them," Adam said, slurring his words slightly and stumbling a bit when he took a step forward. "You fucking don't need them."

"Just one," Jeff mumbled. "Can't sleep if I can't have one."

"Jeff…" Adam cursed as Jeff finally found the bottle, which had been hidden up on top of the refrigerator. He tried to snatch them out of Jeff's hands but the alcohol in his system fucked up his reflexes and Jeff was easily able to avoid his grasp and run off. Adam didn't see where he went but he heard a door slam a few seconds later. "Fuck." He almost went chasing after him but something made him stop and say to hell with it. Maybe it was the whiskey that told him to stop giving a fuck. Jeff said he didn't have a problem yet he was all too eager for his pills. The rational part of Adam's brain told him to go after Jeff and get him to stop. That wasn't what he did though. He just took a big drink of whiskey straight from the bottle and sat back down on the couch. Jeff probably had already taken a pill. There wasn't anything he could really do about it now. The pills wouldn't last forever. There wasn't a refill on the prescription. Sooner or later, Jeff would run out and he would HAVE to go on without them.


	29. Chapter 29

Jeff rubbed his arms, trying to keep himself from shivering. He had run out of pills and he hadn't been able to get a prescription to get new ones, so he was shit out of luck. He had tried not to act like it was bothering him because he didn't want to hear anything from Adam. Things hadn't exactly been the greatest between them these days. Adam was pissed at him for taking the pills and was spending more and more time at the bar with Jay and Chris. Jeff was hurt by it but he tried to spend more time with Trish and Mickie until he ran out of pills. Now he didn't want to be around anyone. He felt sick and shaky all the time and he was so irritated that he was becoming unbearable to the people around him. He had been warned at work about needing to change his attitude and his attitude was the exact reason as to why he had called in sick today. He couldn't stand the thought of having to put up with anyone there. He didn't even want to put up with Randy right now, who had come over after Adam had left for work. Randy had come over looking for the CD Adam had borrowed from him but he wasn't making much of an effort to find it. He was instead sitting there on the edge of Jeff's bed, watching the younger man curl up into a ball and shiver violently.

"I hate to be saying this but you're going through some serious withdrawal dude."

Jeff's eyes narrowed as he glared at him. "Well gee, what made you think that?"

"No need to get snippy." Randy patted Jeff's leg gently. "Why isn't the boyfriend here with you though? I would think he would be taking care of you right now."

Jeff couldn't help the bitter snort that he let out at that. "You would think, wouldn't you?"

"Doesn't he know what's going on?"

"I don't know. We haven't really been around each other. I don't even think I want him to know. He got all pissed off at me about "abusing" the pills and we've been either fighting or avoiding each other ever since."

"Shiiit." Randy rubbed the back of his neck. "Pills are a slippery slope man."

"But I NEEDED them," Jeff said defensively. "And look at me now. It's not like I'm doing that great without them. I'm a fucking sick mess."

"It'll pass."

"How do you know?"

"I've been on pills before. I broke my collarbone when I was sixteen and got addicted to the pain pills the doctor gave me. And when those ran out I went out to the streets and started buying them."

"Really? You can do that?"

"Yes-but that doesn't mean you should." Randy shook his head at Jeff. "I overdosed when I was nineteen and nearly died, hence the rehab trip. This shit isn't to be fucked around with. Adam was right, you shouldn't have been fucking around with it. You're on a slippery slope dude. Believe me, I know."

Randy meant well, Jeff knew that. But at the same time, he couldn't help but feel extremely irritated with him now. Everyone acted like he was an incapable child, just waiting to teeter off the edge and tumble into the abyss. That wasn't the case. He was just still in pain from the wreck. The doctors had told him that he had healed quite nicely but he didn't feel that way. He was absolutely positive that they were wrong. They were wrong and he was the only one that knew it. Nobody was listening to him. He couldn't talk to Adam about it without starting a fight. Adam told him he was imagining it to justify his want for the pills. The doctors weren't listening either. They had done some more tests on him and kept insisting he was just fine. Trish and Mickie were sympathetic but he knew that they were on Adam's side when it came to this. And now Randy…he was alone. Completely alone and it sucked more than anything in the world.

…

Randy left not long after their conversation and Jeff laid in bed until about an hour before Adam was supposed to get off from work. Then he got up and took a quick shower before leaving the apartment. Adam didn't know he had called in and he wasn't in the mood to tell him. He would just go out and walk around for awhile and then come home and pretend he would be at work all day. Maybe it wasn't good for him to lie like that but he figured it would be better than fighting with Adam again.

Jeff shoved his hands in his pockets as he walked, looking down at his feet instead of anyone around him. He had a handful of cash clenched in his fist, which was intended for going to get him something to eat. He wasn't feeling very hungry but he knew he needed to at least try to eat something. He hadn't eaten yesterday and he was feeling weak because of it. Eating at least a tiny bit would help a lot-if he could keep it down anyway.

He about stopped in Taco Bell but his stomach immediately rebelled against him so he kept on going. Maybe he should try McDonalds. Sure it was going to be a fuck of a walk given it was on the other side of town but he had found that he could keep food from McDonalds down when he was sick. He didn't know why that was but he wasn't looking to really question it at the moment. He just kept going, keeping his gaze down as he made his way through the streets. About halfway there he thought he heard the sound of Chris and Jay bickering and he panicked. He didn't want them to see him and then tell Adam so he quickly turned down to another street and went that way, not realizing how bad of a choice he made until he looked up and saw that he was standing outside of Carlito's Cabana.

"Shiiit." This was NOT the area that he needed to be in. He needed to get out and fast. He started to walk away when he just happened to turn his head and see two guys standing in the alley. At first he didn't know who they were or what they were doing but then he saw them make an exchange. Drug dealer and buyer. Adam had told him this part of town was filled with dealers and junkies. A lot of the dealers were part of the gangs in this area since that was a huge source of income for them. This guy didn't seem like he was a part of a gang though. He looked like scum sure but he didn't have all the gang tats and he didn't have the baggy clothes the gang members here seemed to favor. And he was alone, which was something no gang member in the area ever was. They traveled in pairs, if not in packs.

_Just walk away_, he tried to tell himself. _Just walk away. You can't be here just walk away…_

He didn't walk away though. He ignored the logical part of his brain and focused on what Randy had told him earlier. Randy had said he had gotten pills from off the street. Maybe he could do the same. Not like permanently but just for awhile. Until he felt better.

Taking a deep breath he waited until the one guy left before slowly venturing into the alley. The other man saw him coming and his eyebrows rose in surprise. "Well who the hell are YOU?" His voice was rough and gravely and he was swaying back and forth, bouncing just a little bit on his heels. It was like he couldn't stay still or something.

"J-J-Jeff."

"Jeff?" Tilting his head to the side the man studied him closely. His hair, which was either wet or really greasy hung over his eyes, only faintly masking the madness that laid behind them. "I've never seen YOU around here before. You wouldn't be a nice little decoy waiting to try to trick me now would you?"

"No I-hey!" The guy grabbed him and began patting him down. "What are you doing? Don't-"

"Shuddup," the guy growled, slamming Jeff hard up against the nearest building and continued to pat him down, his hands lingering in places that they shouldn't for way too long. "What the fuck brought you here?"

"Well I um…I saw you um…I saw you-"

"You saw me with that other guy here?" The guy's eyebrows rose as Jeff nodded. "So what, you thought you could just come up here and get some from me too?" He stared at Jeff in bewilderment as he nodded. "You're not from around here are you?"

"N-no…"

"Hmmm…" The guy tilted his head to the side and stared at Jeff for the longest time. "You got any money?"

Jeff took the cash out of his pocket and showed it to the guy. "I just need a few pills man that's all."

"Yeah well I don't carry pills-and that's not enough to get SHIT from anyone around here." The guy saw the crestfallen look on Jeff's face and smirked. "I do have something better than pills-something I'll give you at a MUCH cheaper."

"What is it?"

The guy reached into his pocket and pulled out a syringe. "H. Goes right into your bloodstream. You'll be feeling better instantly."

"Heroin? You want to sell me heroin?"

"Well selling would imply that you have money to give me. Given that you don't have jack shit, you'll have to earn it a different way."

"Like how?" Jeff was regretting the decision to do this already. He had a suspicion of what this guy wanted and was now terrified that if he refused, they'd be finding his body in pieces inside of the dumpster next to him.

The guy smirked and grabbed Jeff by the wrist. "Let's go somewhere a little more private. We wouldn't want to be seen now would we?"

Jeff shook his head and tried to control his breathing as he was led further into the alley. _God don't let him kill me don't let me die let me live to at least be worth it…_


	30. Chapter 30

Adam came home from work to find the apartment completely empty. "Jeff?" He searched the whole apartment and didn't find him there. He must not have come home from work yet. With a sigh Adam changed into a fresh set of clothes and threw his other ones in the laundry pile. Then he went back into the living room and flopped down on the couch, snagging the remote off the coffee table and turning the TV on. He flipped through the channels, his lip curling as he found nothing that he truly was interested in watching. Finally he just settled on The Big Bang Theory and then kept checking the door and his watch every couple of minutes, waiting for Jeff to come home. He should have been home not long after Adam got there but he just wasn't coming. Half hour passed, no Jeff. A full hour passed, still no Jeff. By the time the hour and a half mark went by Adam was officially all out worried. He called Jeff but got no answer on his cell phone. He called their friend and none of them knew where he was. That only made Adam even more worried.

"Come on Jeff pick up pick up pick up…" he muttered under his breath as he tried calling Jeff yet again. The phone rang and rang and rang before finally going to voicemail once again. "Jesus Christ…" So Jeff wasn't deliberately avoiding his calls; when he did that it always went straight to voicemail. But that didn't soothe the worry of why he wasn't ANSWERING his damn phone. "Jeff baby where are you?" he asked the moment he could start leaving his message. "You were supposed to be home over an hour ago are you alright? Did something happen at work?" He took a deep breath to try to calm himself though it didn't really work. "Look, if you don't come home soon I'm gonna go look for you okay?" Of course he didn't get an answer back so he just hung up and called Trish yet again.

"Adam I still haven't seen him," she said as soon as she picked up the phone. She didn't even have to ask who was calling her. "I told you that I would call-"

"I know you did," he said, not feeling too bad about the way he was bugging her and everyone else. This was serious he had to bug them all. "I just wanted to ask you if you could do me a favor?"

"What is it?"

"Can you come over here and stay here in case he comes home? I'm going to go out and look for him." He couldn't just stay here anymore. He felt like he was going insane from all the waiting. He needed to go out and try to find Jeff but he was afraid to leave in case Jeff did finally come home-hence this call to Trish. "If he comes back I don't want him to come home to an empty house."

Trish sighed. She honestly had things to do tonight but she was worried about Jeff and she couldn't refuse Adam's desperation. She didn't have the heart for that. "Okay," she agreed. "Give me like twenty minutes and I'll be up there."

"Okay. Thank you." Adam hung up the phone and tried to wait patiently for Trish, though it was harder than hell to do. The twenty minutes dragged on and on for eternity and he called Jeff yet again, hoping for an answer. Jeff still didn't pick up though. Adam nearly chucked his phone across the room in frustration. _Jeff where the hell are you? What the fuck are you doing?_

He didn't get an answer to that of course. He just had to stand by the door, waiting until he saw Trish getting out of the car before going out and double timing it down the stairs. He nearly fell down the stairs he was going so fast but he managed to catch himself and make it the rest of the way down safely. "Door's unlocked you can go right in," he told Trish before she could even say a word. "Call me if he shows up, okay?" Once again he didn't give her a chance to respond. He just took off, going to Jeff's work first to see if he had been kept late for any reason. When he got there though, not only did he discover that Jeff wasn't there, but he hadn't shown up at all to work. "What the fuck are you doing Jeff?" he muttered under his breath. He had absolutely no idea where to go looking now. This was not like Jeff at all. Something was seriously seriously wrong though he wasn't sure what the fuck it was. He wanted to call the cops but he knew there was no point yet. Until Jeff had been missing for a full twenty four hours they wouldn't do shit-and even after the twenty four hour mark who knew what they would do? No, for now he was on his own.

…

Jeff ducked into the bathroom that was at the park closest from the alley he had just escaped from. His mouth tasted like a combination of bile and cum-not a pleasant taste by any means. A rough blowjob in the alley had paid for the drugs that were in his pocket. He had tried not to focus on what he was doing while it was happening, too humiliated to want to remember the experience. Afterwards he had thrown up and now he was here, trying to rinse his mouth out with cold water from the sink. That helped a little though it would have been better if he had a mint or something. He didn't though so he was just going to have to deal. Lucky for him, he had an amazing distraction in his pocket.

Being extra careful, he took the vial and needle out of his pocket and stared at both of them for a moment. There was a small part of his brain trying to tell himself not to do this. That logical part of his brain though wasn't very loud at all though. Instead he took off his belt and put it around his arm as a tourniquet. He had gotten a quick demonstration from the dealer on how to do this and hopefully he didn't fuck it up.

He pulled the belt as tight as he could get it and slapped his arm a couple of times to make the vein pop up. He took another moment to take several deep breaths and steady himself before inserting the needle into his vein and injected the drug into his system. He gasped as he did it and his eyes nearly rolled into the back of his head. It felt unbelievably good besides from his stomach churning. His arms felt heavy and he let the vial and needle fall to the floor as he stumbled into one of the stalls and threw up once more. Once he was done he made a failed attempt to flush the toilet and just sat back, his eyes half closed and enjoying how fantastic he was feeling. This was great why did everyone say this was so bad? This was amazing. His arms still felt too heavy to lift so he just kept sitting there, his head lolling to the side and a little grin crossing his face. He had no idea how long he sat there. Time had no meaning anymore. There was only him and this feeling and that was all he could want.

…

Trish skimmed through the collection of magazines Adam and Jeff had, trying to control how worried she was. Nobody had heard a thing from Jeff. She had called everyone herself to see if they had seen or heard from him but they hadn't. It was like he had just completely disappeared on them. It made her sick to her stomach really. Where could Jeff have possibly gone? She didn't understand it. She tried calling his cell phone but had no better luck than Adam. She couldn't even leave him a voicemail to yell at him because Adam had filled it up with his frantic messages.

She tossed the magazine away with a loud sigh and ran a hand through her blonde hair. Sitting here waiting was even harder than she thought it was going to be. She almost was tempted to call Mickie and have her come here and wait while she went to help Adam search but what good would it do? She had no idea where to even start looking and would probably spend more time running in circles as she tried to find a starting place. Still, sitting here wasn't any better…

As she went back and forth with herself on the subject she heard a loud bang at the door. Jumping about a foot in the air, she put her hand over her heart and looked that way. For a moment she didn't hear anything else but then she heard some thumping. She quickly got up to her feet and went to the door, opening it to find Jeff slumped down on the ground outside of it. "Jeff!" She knelt down and hugged him, somehow not strangling him like she had been planning to. "What-" Her eyes went to the needle mark in his arm and she looked at his eyes…it took her about five seconds to figure out he was high. "Oh no…" She dragged him into the house, kicking the door shut behind her and getting him on to the couch before calling Adam. She had no idea how he had gotten into this mess but they had to do something to try to get him out of it before it was too late-assuming it already wasn't.

…

Jeff woke up feeling like he got hit by a truck. He peeled his eyes open slowly, his head pounding so badly that he felt like he wanted to die. "What…" He looked around, realizing that he was home and had Trish and Adam both standing there, looking at him in a mixture of relief, anger and disappointment. "How did I-"

"Get here?" Adam interrupted, his tone a lot colder than it normally was. He was PISSED. "Well thankfully your high ass still had the sense to wander back here instead of getting yourself killed."

Jeff's eyes widened. "How did-"

"We're not stupid," Trish said. "I knew the moment you walked in the door that you were high."

Fuck. Them finding out was NOT what he wanted. Jeff sat up despite the way his head was protesting and he swallowed nervously. "Guys…it wasn't what it looked like…"

"It wasn't what it looked like?" Adam repeated incredulously. "You were HIGH!" He grabbed Jeff's arm and pointed to the pinprick still there. "Judging from that, I'm gonna guess it was heroin, right?" He squeezed Jeff's wrist until the younger man had no choice but to admit to it with a nod. "God DAMN it Jeff!" Adam yelled angrily. He slapped Jeff clean across the face as hard as he could.

"Adam!" Trish pushed him back and shook her head in disbelief. "What the hell? That is NOT going to help!"

Adam particularly didn't care at the moment. He wanted to throttle Jeff for being so stupid and he made an attempt to get at him again when Trish pushed him away again. Growling in frustration, he kicked over the coffee table and paced around the room, taking several deep breaths to try to calm back down. It wasn't working so well but he was trying anyway. Jeff put a hand up to his stinging cheek, his watery eyes following Adam's every movie. He felt horrible now he really did…though it didn't kill the longing he was already having for the drug.

"Baby I'm sorry!" Jeff finally got the courage to speak and he got up to his feet, attempting to trail after Adam. Trish tried to stop him given how volatile Adam was right now but he shook her off and managed to get his arms around Adam's waist. Adam tried to push him off but he held on, his whole body trembling. "I'm sorry I'm sorry I am. I didn't mean it I fucked up okay? I fucked up really bad baby I'm SORRY okay? It won't happen again it won't."

"Jeff…" Adam tried to push Jeff away but Jeff wasn't letting go. He just kept rattling on and on about how sorry he was and finally Adam hugged him back, unable to keep resisting the pathetic display Jeff was putting on. Trish stayed with them for awhile to make sure things were somewhat okay and they were-until Jeff went out and got high yet again the next day.


	31. Chapter 31

As the months went by, Jeff and Adam's friends could only watch as things between the two deteriorated. Jeff sunk deeper and deeper into drug use, which caused fights with Adam. Adam, depressed and angry that Jeff was doing this to himself, started drinking heavily as a coping mechanism. That in turn made him extremely short tempered, which sparked even more fights. They both lost the jobs they had and while Adam remained unemployed, Jeff had taken up working at a local strip club called Dipstix. It was easy cash and a lot of dealers frequented the area, which made scoring a lot easier. It also caused more fights with Adam, who either got angry that Jeff would degrade himself by stripping (when he was sober) or got angry and accused Jeff of fucking all the other guys there (when he was drunk). In all honesty, the others thought that the two of them needed to break up. Their relationship had turned into something completely toxic and unhealthy. But despite the vicious fights, they refused to let each other go. After the dust settled one of them would apologize and beg for forgiveness, thus allowing the whole process to start over again.

What made things worse was the fact that they got kicked out of their apartment. Jeff's money was going to his habit and with Adam unemployed they couldn't pay for the rent, which lead to them getting booted out of the home they had tried so hard to get. Jay and Chris had felt bad and let them move back in, which proved to be a mistake. They got to witness first hand the fights between Jeff and Adam and had to separate them more often than not. They also had to take care of Adam when he got so drunk he couldn't even stand up and drag a high Jeff home at about four or five in the morning. It was driving them both insane.

"Can you PLEASE take them in?" Jay asked Trish as he paced around the kitchen. He was on the phone with her, trying to see if he and Chris could shove Jeff and Adam off on to her and Mickie for awhile. The stress of dealing with the volatile couple was putting a strain on their own relationship. They were fighting over what they should do or whose side they should take and Jay knew that they had to do something before things got too out of hand. "Please?"

"Jay, we DON'T have room!" Trish objected with an exasperated sigh. "We're in an apartment, not a house like you guys are. We don't have the extra room. Plus, our landlord will NOT put up with the stuff they do. They'll get us kicked out too and where would we go? Answer me that."

Jay groaned and ran a hand through his hair. He knew she was right about that but that didn't mean he had to like it. He and Chris had fucked themselves over by not only taking Adam and Jeff in, but complaining about the stuff that had been going on to everyone else since then. Nobody wanted to take them in now. Not that he could blame them. He loved Adam like a brother but he couldn't take this anymore. "What do you think I should do then?"

"I don't know," Trish replied sadly. "I mean, I don't want to say kick them out when they have nowhere else to go but what else can you do? I love them too but they don't have the right to put you and Chris through this shit."

"I know." That was the stuff Chris was saying to him last night, though Trish put it a little more nicely than he did. The thing was though, Jay couldn't see how kicking them out on to the street would make anything better. They didn't have the money to go any place else and who knew what would happen to them on the street. "Could you maybe just take Jeff for awhile? Chris and I can't-"

"Let me GO Adam!" Jeff came barging into the room. They came from upstairs and by the look in Adam's eye, Jay knew he was already drunk.

"You are NOT going there!" Adam growled, grabbing Jeff roughly by the arm and yanking him back so hard that the younger man yelped in pain.

"Hey!" Jay dropped the phone and tried to get in between them. "Adam! Don't do that!" He could smell the booze on Adam's breath and he groaned lowly. Not good. If Adam was already drunk then he was in for a very long night indeed.

"Let me GO!" Jeff repeated. He was trying to yank himself out of Adam's grip and slap him away but that wasn't going so well for him. He had no strength left in his body. He had lost a lot of weight, his skin was a sickly pale, he had dark purple circles under his eyes and his arms were covered in bruises from shooting up. "Adam! Stop I HAVE to go to work!"

Adam snorted. "Work? You call that place work?" He tightened his grip on Jeff's arm despite Jay's attempts to get him off. "Fucking shaking your shit and fucking everyone there is your work?"

"I don't fuck everyone-"

"I caught you with that FUCKING ASSHOLE!"

"Who?" Jay asked, totally confused now.

"His fucking DEALER!" Adam's voice was cracking from how loud he was yelling. His face was beet red to boot. "He fucked his fucking DEALER cuz the fucking club got closed for fumigation and he had no fucking money!"

Jay blinked. He hadn't been aware of that. "Jeff?"

Jeff refused to make eye contact with either of them. He just slipped out of Adam's grip and headed for the door. Adam tried to go after him but Jay held him back, not wanting to see a full out domestic violence situation break out. That had happened a couple of times before. Jeff had tried to claw out Adam's eye and Adam had slapped Jeff around until Chris and Jay yanked him off.

"FUCK!" Kicking the table in frustration, Adam picked up a glass that was at the table and threw it at the wall before collapsing down to the ground and burying his face into his hands. Jay sighed and knelt down beside him, hesitating to touch him in case he felt like lashing out violently.

"You guys can't keep doing this," he said slowly, knowing it was useless to say this at this point. He and Chris had said this over and over again and it fell on deaf ears. "You really can't. This isn't healthy. I think you guys need to take a break."

Adam shook his head. "No. No no no I can't let him go."

"Adam-"

"He's MINE," Adam said stubbornly. "I can't let him go. Who's going to take care of him-"

"YOU'RE not even taking care of him!" Jay said bluntly. "Look at you! You're almost as big of a mess as he is!" That came out much harsher than Jay intended it to but it was too late to reword it. And sadly, it was the truth of the situation. Adam's drinking was just as much of a problem as Jeff's drug use. They both needed help yet they both refused to see it. It was maddening.

Adam gave him a hapless glare before pushing himself up to his feet and storming back upstairs. Jay watched him go, flinching as the door slammed and then letting out a long, tired sigh. He couldn't do this anymore. He and Chris were going to have to find a place for Adam and Jeff to go because he really couldn't take this shit anymore.

…

Later that night, Adam snuck out of the house and went down to the Dipstix area, going into the club first to find that Jeff was already gone. Grumbling to himself, he went out the back and started searching the alleys, hoping that he didn't find Jeff with the same dealer he caught him fucking. If he ever saw that again he would end up in jail for killing the bastard.

Despite what other people were saying, Adam couldn't fathom breaking up with Jeff. He needed him and despite what he said when they were fighting, he knew Jeff needed him too. The others saw Jeff as a burden now. They didn't want to help him. They didn't even want to deal with him. He heard Jay and Chris saying as much. They didn't understand how much he loved Jeff and wanted to save him, despite how fucked up they both were now.

He searched through several alleys before going to a park, where he found Jeff laying on the ground by the swings. He was just staring up at the sky, seemingly unhurt beyond from the new bruise on his arm. Adam went over to him and sat down, just staring at him for the longest time. Jeff didn't even know he was there really. He looked at him but his gaze seemed to go right through him. Adam bit down on his lower lip and pulled him on to his lap, hugging him tight and burying his face into his neck. "I'm sorry," he said, fighting back tears as he clung to him for dear life. "I'm sorry I couldn't save you from this. I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry…"


End file.
